Mikaela Cody Prime
by AndromedaAI
Summary: Things seem to be finally evening out, and with the birth of Sam and Mikaela's first child, life might actually become normal again. Though, when Megatron kidnaps Twister and uses her remaining AllSpark energy to revive Sentinel Prime, everything is thrown back into chaos. Why did Megatron want the Prime back? For the AllSpark, of course. Sequel to "The World Needs You Now".
1. Taken

**Hey, everyone! It's me, and I'm back with the sequel to **_**The World Needs You Now**_**. I just couldn't wait any longer to put this up! I'm so bad at being patient, aren't I?**

**Now, what I plan to do is to go into more depth with the history of the Primes in this story. That'll be a subplot to the main plot. The main plot, as you can see in the summary, has something to do with Sentinel Prime. Now, I know you all hate the guy in some way, but do any of you **_**like**_** him in some way? Ironhide lives in this "universe" I created, so the murder of one of the Autobots **_**does not exist**_** on Sentinel's track record. He never had the chance to kill Ironhide or chose not to kill him (we'll find out once Mikaela/Twister talks to him).**

**I don't personally **_**loathe**_** the bot for what he did. Look at it this way; he loved Cybertron so much that he would do anything, **_**anything**_**,** **to bring it back. He was sacrificing **_**everything**_** he liked, knew, and loved in order to bring back his home. Though I have to admit that he was a bit of a blockhead when Optimus told him that **_**Earth**_** was now home for the Cybertronian race. He should have stopped right there and said, "Oh. Well, since you put it that way…" but since Michael Bay held the cards for what happened in the movie, he kept Sentinel as the main baddy and kinda screwed up that part of the movie. It's like making your grandpa a super villain!**

**Now enough discussion. I just wanna know your opinion about Optimus' mentor. **

**And here's the first chapter of this story. I hope ya like it!**

* * *

**Mikaela Cody Prime**

* * *

1 – **Taken** – 1

A pod flashed a bright blue as it burned while it entered the atmosphere. It careened down towards the Earth's surface, falling thousands of feet every second. It crashed down in a farmer's field in northern Nevada, but by the time it was able to transform into a short, but lithe, figure, the farmer had drove up to the crater the figure had created. The farmer stopped his tractor and gaped up at the figure, who looked down at him in surprise. It muttered a few indistinct words of another language, before it made a sound similar to one clearing his throat.

"What are you?" the farmer asked shakily, still gaping.

The robotic figure crouched down in order to be more on the man's level. "I am an autonomous robotic organism from the planet Cybertron, or Autobot for short."

The farmer managed to swallow. "So you're an alien?" he inhaled slightly. "What's yer name?"

"My designation is Prowl." He straightened and looked around. "How far am I from the nearest human colony?"

The farmer, too afraid of being squashed by the alien—er, Prowl, didn't stop to consider the safety of the human race. He just blurted out the distance. "Ten miles from here, due east, is the town of Tranquility."

Prowl nodded thankfully. "Thank you, sir," he said formerly before he leapt over the man and raced off, following the directions the human had given him. The farmer watched Prowl leave before his eyes rolled up into his skull and the poor man slumped off of his tractor, having fainted.

* * *

I rocked slightly to the beat of the song that I was currently playing on my radio. I was driving without my holoform activated as I headed towards the Witwicky household. I wanted to see how the baby was coming, because it was due this month. Optimus and Ratchet had encouraged me to check up on her since I had gained some medical knowledge in the time I had been Ratchet's Apprentice. I'd know what to do if Mikaela suddenly went into labour.

Skillet continued to yell the song "Hero" through my speakers as I turned the corner onto the street the Witwickys lived on. I knew Mikaela was at home alone since Sam worked at the base for most of the day. She was left at home for eight hours of the day with only Wheelie and Brains to keep her company. That reminds me…I should do something about their perverted programming and Wheelie's swearing problem. We didn't need one of the baby's first words to be a profanity.

Speaking of the Minicons…

In the middle of the road, I saw Wheelie and Brains waving their arms to catch my attention. I applied the brakes and stopped in front of them before I activated my holoform and stepped out of my alt-mode. I knelt down in order to get down more on their level. "Hey, guys, what's the matter?" I asked calmly.

"We don't know!" Wheelie said in a worried tone. "'Kaela's just layin' on her side, moanin'. She says she's gone into labour."

I looked up at the sky exasperated. "Great timing, God, really great timing!" I said, seemingly to the sky. I got to my feet and crossed the street before looking both ways. I stormed into the house and ran straight into the living room, where I heard Mikaela groaning. I stopped and looked at her before I checked her pulse and temperature with my recently equipped medical scanners. Then I gently gathered her into my arms, using my holoform's superior strength in order to carry her. She cracked open her eyes and looked at me.

"Twister…" she moaned. "I need to get to the hospital…"

"I know," I said softly. "Just hang on—take deep breaths. Wheelie, Brains, and I are going to take you to Tranquility Memorial Hospital where doctors and nurses who know what to do will take care of you and your baby." And with that, I rushed outside while using an EMP blast to lock the door behind me and the two Minicons. I ran across the street to my alt-form and placed her into my passenger seat before I made my holoform appear in my driver's seat. The radio was off; the only thing I could hear was Mikaela's deliberately slow breathing in order to dull the pain. I glanced at her as an instinct urged me to give her a shot of sedative in order to ease the pain, but medic training overruled the idea. Pain was good in this situation. Pain told you when the baby was going to come.

I wrapped a seatbelt around the distressed young woman as Wheelie and Brains got in. I shut my door after them before I revved my engine and shot off in the direction of the hospital. I weaved through traffic as I comm. linked Ratchet's assistant.

::Jolt, Mrs. Witwicky has gone into labour. I'm taking her to the hospital. I need either you or Ratchet to come and back me up on this. I won't feel very comfortable with a strange doctor helping her deliver the baby.::

::I read you loud and clear, Twister. We'll both meet you at the hospital. We're leaving the base as we speak.::

::ETA: twenty minutes,:: Ratchet's voice suddenly said

::Thanks a bunch, guys,:: I sighed before I severed the connection. My tires squealed as I swerved around a minivan before I could accidentally rear-end it. I was still having trouble multi-tasking with my communicator and driving. All because I was an ex-human and humans can't change into cars and don't have built-in 'cell phones', aka communicators. And I had been a Cybertronian for months now. How long would it take to completely handle this new body of mine?

I whizzed by a pickup truck who's driver waved at me, but I didn't have any time to indicate that I had seen him. I revved my engine before I increased my speed, my internal GPS telling me that I was nearing Tranquility Memorial. I indicated and made sure I was in the left lane as the turnoff to the hospital came up. I turned and darted across incoming traffic before nearly crashing into a car as I rolled into the parking lot of the hospital. I parked near the front door of the hospital, grumbling because I had to wedge myself between an industrial van and a driver who didn't know how to park his Corvette Hatchback. "Slaggin' punks. There should be a designated Autobot parking spot," I muttered before I had my holoform appear on the passenger side of my alt-mode.

Quickly, I opened the passenger door and undid the seatbelt holding Mikaela in place. I then picked her up as Wheelie and Brains jumped out of the back. As I ran for the front doors, I closed the door. The Minicons ran ahead of me and pushed open the two sets of glass doors for me as I rushed inside. I was really grateful that the world recognised us as allies and were not afraid of us anymore.

As soon as I was in the lobby, I caught the attention of the woman sitting behind the front desk. "Get a nurse to get me a wheelchair!" I called to her as Mikaela began to get even more distressed. The secretary noticed this and ran to find a nurse and a wheelchair. She came back, rolling the wheelchair herself, though.

"I sent a nurse ahead in order for a birthing room to be prepared," the secretary told me.

"Good," I said with a nod. "Just to let you know, her doctor and his assistant will be coming to assist with the delivery," I informed her.

The secretary's eyebrows shot up in surprise as she helped me lower Mikaela into the wheelchair. She began to push Mikaela towards the birthing room as she said, "The Autobots Ratchet and Jolt?"

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows in surprise. "How did you know that?" I asked.

She chuckled, despite the seriousness of the situation. "They ran a clinic here a month or so ago. I peeked in to see their holograms teaching a bunch of nurses on how to treat various wounds and change bandages. You were there too, as the example," she said.

"Oi, you humans know more than I realize!" I sighed, running a hand down my face.

Suddenly, a hand came flying from Mikaela's direction and slapped me in the shoulder. "Hey!" I exclaimed. I looked down at her and rubbed my shoulder in offence.

"_Hellooo_!" the distressed human femme cried. "I'm about to give _birth_ here! Get me to that birthing room now! And call Sam!" and with that, she gripped the arm rests of the wheelchair and began to howl with pain. I quickly scanned her to check on the process of the labour.

"The contractions are five minutes apart but the time between them is rapidly decreasing," I summarised. "We gotta get her to that room. The baby's comin'." I took the wheelchair from the secretary and began to run, pushing it faster. As I did, I called Sam. I quickly told him the situation as the secretary lead me to the right room, where several nurses, all female, were there, ready to help the baby into the world. He told me that he was going to be there as soon as he could.

I checked my internal chronometer and guessed Ratchet and Jolt would be here in a few minutes. But the baby was coming. A human doctor would have to deliver this baby. As the nurses helped me carefully lower Mikaela onto the bed, I felt Mikaela grip my arm painfully. But she sought comfort from me. Since Sam was not here, I would have to hold her hand. "Please don't leave my side…" she whimpered.

I shook my head. "I won't."

I was there for her the whole time. As the nurses assisted her and told her to push, I stood by her side and talked to her soothingly. But as the baby was coming out, she nearly crushed my hand in her pain. But it was no biggie. Let her take her stress and pain out on my holographic hand.

But the baby came out, and both it and Mikaela were fine. The baby was a girl, and was wrapped in a soft, fluffy pink blanket. I cooed at her as the nurse placed her in Mikaela's arms. "Good job, Mikaela," I told the young woman as the nurses and the doctors left the room. I walked over to the right side of the bed and looked down at the two. "What are you going to name her?" I asked, gesturing softly towards the baby.

Mikaela's ice-blue eyes were soft as she looked down at her child. I looked down into the baby's face and smiled. She had a small amount of brown hair that would surely darken when she got older, and a pair of ice blue eyes like her mother's. Who would she look like when she got older? Sam, or Mikaela?

"Her name is Ashley…Ashley Opal Witwicky. We…named her after you because you saved Sam…" Mikaela explained slowly.

My holoform's bright blue eyes widened in surprise. "But…you barely knew me at the time! Why…" my eyes narrowed. "Wait a sec…that's why Sam asked what my middle name was." I grinned.

She returned the grin before she looked down at Ashley and laughed softly when she saw that Ashley was asleep.

Before I could saw anything else, Sam, Ratchet, and Jolt burst into the room. I smiled up at them as Sam and the two holoforms quietly walked over to the left side of the bed. "She's…beautiful…" Sam breathed.

"She's…perfect…" Ratchet said softly.

"She's cute," Jolt said simply.

* * *

I left the hospital and began to head back to base. My work there was done. Mikaela was comfortable in the hospital with her husband and Ratchet and Jolt. I had to make sure that both sets of twins were behaving themselves or had gone and gotten themselves injured while I was gone. And with that on my mind, I unconsciously sped up, going faster than the speed limit. But then I caught myself and slowed down, and went the posted speed limit.

I came up alongside a tan SUV. I activated my holoform and looked at the driver with a smile on my face. She glanced at me nervously, but the little boy who sat in the passenger seat behind her waved at me wildly from behind his tinted window. I chuckled at his antics and waved at him before I returned my attention back onto the road. Yes, there were people out there who were still nervous of us, like the mother was, but then there were people who liked us, like that little boy. I don't think I'd ever get used to how diverse the sentient beings that I used to belong to were.

Suddenly, I spotted a police bike behind me. He was flashing his lights at me, so I pulled over to the side of the road. Even though I was an Autobot, I didn't get away with speeding. He must have seen me speed when I was taking Mikaela to the hospital. If we sped all the time, we would set a bad example for the humans who were just learning to drive.

I threw my gear into park as soon as I stopped, and then put my parking brake on. With my holoform, I stepped out of my alt-form and walked down the length of before I faced the police officer who pulled me over.

"What can I do for you, officer?" I asked formerly as I crossed my arms.

"You were heading to the hospital approximately two hours ago. Did you know how fast you were going?" he asked my gruffly, looking at me critically from behind a pair of dark aviator glasses.

I winced. If I had been _really_ speeding, I'd have to report it to Director Mearing and Optimus Prime. They would not be pleased. "Um…no?"

The police officer cleared his throat sternly. "I clocked you going one hundred and fifty kilometers an hour." I winced again. "May I ask _why_ you were going that fast, young lady?"

Why was he treating me like I was normal girl driving her car? Couldn't he see that I was an Autobot? My eyes were Autobot blue. He should have been able to tell, even though my Autobot symbol was hidden in the center of my hubcaps.

"A friend of mine was about to give birth, so I had to get to the hospital as fast as I could," I explained.

The police officer started to write that down on a notepad he seemingly pulled out of nowhere. "Did she get to the hospital on time?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yes, but just barely. The baby was ready to come out as soon as she was lying down. …Why am I telling you this?" I glared at him. He tried to suck me into a comfortable conversation before he gave me a ticket. He saw the glare I was giving him, and a corner of his moustache twitched when he showed a small smile.

After a few minutes of silence, the police officer handed me a ticket. I looked at the number written on the ticket sourly before I looked up into the police officer's face. "Don't make me pay this ticket," I growled. I clenched the fist holding the ticket, making it crinkle. "The government wouldn't want me to bring this ticket to them."

Suddenly, the police officer fizzled out of existence in a blue flash of light, and the bike suddenly transformed into a mech a foot taller than I was in robot mode. My eyes widened at this. "You will pay the fine!" the mech commanded, crouching down so he could get in my face.

I huffed, knowing that he was only trying to intimidate me into paying the fine; I smirked and crossed my holoform's arms. I glanced up at the mechs blue optics before I deactivated my holoform and transformed. But just as I finished transforming, and before I could even online my optics, I felt the mech tackle me to the ground. I cried out in surprise and made sure my wings were not going to get crushed as I crashed into the ground. Fighting on the side of the road, _really_?

Onlining my optics, I looked up at the mech who was pinning me down with a knee just under my chest. "State your designation and faction, Cybertronian," the mech commanded calmly.

Gee, I had been tackled and pinned by a mech that turned into a vehicle smaller than my alt-mode. I wanted to feel offended, but I couldn't manage to. So, with a sigh, I answered his command. "Designation: Twister. Faction: Autobot." With a huff, I said, "How could you not tell? I'm radiating a signature that basically screams Autobot, and I've got an Autobot symbol on my hubcaps and on my right shoulder! I'm a good guy!"

The mech got off of me silently and took a few steps back. I got to my feet slowly, a few of my backplates creaking. The mech looked away from me. "I am terribly sorry. I did not realize. My scanners are offline," he said.

I brushed some of the dirt off of my armor. "No problem," I said with a smile. I looked at him. "I would like to know your designation, though."

"My designation, when translated into this planet's dominant language, is 'Prowl'. I am an Autobot, and Optimus Prime's Second in Command. I have not been able to join up with the rest of the Autobots because my scanners were damaged when I crashed into this planet's surface," he explained.

I nodded. "It's understandable, Prowl. I'll be able to take you to Optimus."

He smiled slightly. "Thank you."

"Come on then," I said and prepared to transform. But the sound of an alien jet engine caused me to stop. I straightened and looked up towards the source of the sound. I gasped when I saw that it was a familiar Cybertronian jet.

It flew down towards us and transformed. My optics widened at the sight of the Decepticon leader, but I didn't have a chance to say much. "You are coming with me," Megatron growled before he grabbed me. I screamed and struggled against huge mech's grip, but he swiftly punched me in the helm and everything went black.

* * *

**I love to torture my characters sometimes. I wonder what will happen to Twister? Did you like the fact that Prowl's here?**


	2. In Captivity

**So… here's the next chapter! I hope you guys like this one as much as you liked the first one. I can't believe how many reviews I got for the first chapter! Twelve! TWELVE! I've never gotten that many for the first chapter of any of my stories before! You guys are so awesome!**

**And as a note: Jazz and Prowl will**_** not**_** be getting together. Sorry, but no.**

**Thanks **_XxLosAngelesGirlxX, Naughtia, SJSGirl, Iceshadow911247, MusicalPrime, Kaitlyn Thorne, Guest, VioletDawn00, CalicoKat35, Marakoron, roxie2120,_** and**_ sunnysides4life_** for reviewing! Free Energon cookies for all!**

* * *

2 – **In Captivity** – 2

Something on the top right-hand corner of his HUD screen began to flash erratically. Mirage focused on it and stared at the flashing red dot before he clued in on what it was. It was a Partner Emergency Beacon. It was created by Wheeljack so that Mirage would be able to keep an eye on his partner, Twister, and she vise-versa. It flashed blue to warn that his partner was injured somewhere, and would flash faster the closer he got to his partner. It flashed green to warn that he partner was in battle, and it would also flash faster to tell him when he was getting close to her. And then it flashed red to warn him if his partner had been kidnapped by a Decepticon. It would flash faster the farther the Decepticon got away.

Once he realized this, his spark froze. The light flashing in the top right-hand corner of his HUD was red.

"No…Mikaela…_no_!" Mirage whirled and ran into the base. He ran without looking to see if he stepped on any humans, so the soldiers had to dive out of his way. He reached Optimus' office and barged in without stop to knock. "Optimus!" he exclaimed before he stopped and looked at the occupants of the room. He blinked a few times as he took in the sight of Ironhide and the Prime.

Optimus calmly looked at him. "What is it, Mirage?" he asked placidly.

"It's Mikaela, sir. She's been taken by the Decepticons."

At that, Optimus' optics widened. He stood up from his chair and turned to look at the Weapons Specialist, who stood near the door. "Ironhide, comm. Jazz and tell him to hook up to the closest computer console and locate where the Decepticons could possibly have taken her," he commanded Ironhide.

"Already done, Prime," the powerful mech announced.

Mirage took a step forward. "What do you think they'll do, Optimus?" he asked, almost pleadingly.

Several gruesome scenarios briefly flashed through the leader's processor. "I do not know, Mirage. But it cannot be anything good." There was a soft electronic mew, and the small form of a cyberkitten crawled its way out from under the Prime's desk. It sat down on its metal haunches and looked up at them with its large green optics. Mirage recognised it as being Pebbles, Twister's female cyberkitten. Mirage bent down and rubbed the kitten's head as Optimus said, "But we'll do everything we can to save her. For Pebbles, for all of us."

* * *

Prowl watched as the femme Megatron grabbed curled in on herself and shrunk down to the size of a human and altered her appearance to one of a human. But then Megatron transformed around her and took to the skies. He watched as the Cybertronian jet disappeared from view before he looked down. The leader of the Decepticons hadn't stopped long enough for him to engage. He could only watch as one of, probably, the last Autobot femmes was taken right from in front of him. "Some Second in Command I am…" he muttered harshly. He didn't even know Megatron was coming!

He transformed down into his alt-form and pulled out onto the highway. He had to find the other Autobots in order to report everything he had seen, and to tell them that he had finally caught up to them. As he dodged several cars, he broadcasted a message on all Autobot channels, hoping at least one Autobot would hear him.

**::This is the Autobot designated Prowl. I am currently in the human colony of 'Tranquility', in the 'state' of 'Nevada', in the 'country' of the 'United States of America'. If anybot can hear this, please respond.::**

He just hoped that someone would respond.

* * *

_I found myself standing in the middle of a park. I was standing in my human form, wearing a long sleeved t-shirt, black jeans, and my pink converse. There was snow on the ground, and it was deep. I was standing in the middle of it, and it went up to just below my knee. I looked around at the jungle-gym, and the swings, which swung slightly in a breeze I could not feel. Everything I saw was almost in a black and white colour scheme—except for my converse. But even then, it seemed like the colour was dulled._

_Experimentally, I took a deep breath and then exhaled. A small white cloud appeared in front of my face as my breath crystallised. It was cold…but why could I barely feel it?_

_There was something wrong, I realized, as I began to walk forward. I left deep footprints as I passed the jungle-gym, and then the swings. I spared them a side glance, but then I looked ahead and looked to see what seemed to be a very thick forest. I continued on towards the forest, seemingly in a daze. I blinked a few times before I suddenly found myself by the edge of the forest. I walked among them, and looked up at them, took in their height, and the texture of the bark. _

_It was like I had stepped into a painting of a winter day. It was both pretty and desolate and the same time._

_I strode forward with a purpose when I spotted a clearing in the forest only a few hundred meters from me. My pace was quick and almost like a march. The distance closed quickly, and I suddenly found myself at the edge of the clearing. With a deep breath, I stopped at the edge and looked out at the clearing. I drew in a sharp gasp at what I saw in the middle of the clearing._

_It was a Ferrari-red figure. He was slumped down in the middle of the clearing, with snow building up and around him. I recognised the figure by just the colour of his armor, and I suddenly was running through the deep snow towards the figure. It was taxing, and I was very tired by the time I reached him, but it was worth it._

"_Mirage!" I cried as I dropped to my knees next to his fallen figure._

_The large form stirred slightly, causing the snow to cascade off of him and onto me. I quickly dusted the snow off of me as a pair of dull optics stared up at me. I scooted forward and rested my right hand on his cheek. It was cold. He had been out here for a long time._

"_Mi…Mikae…" he tried to say my name, but his voice box didn't seem to be working._

"_Shhh…it's okay, Mirage. I'm here," I soothed. I looked over his body, which was quickly getting covered with snow again before I looked back into his optics. "What happened?" I didn't like this. How did my guardian/courter get this way?_

_Slowly, Mirage moved and put his servos under himself. With great effort, Mirage moved himself into a sitting position and used his servos to brace himself. I gasped in horror at the sight of the gaping wound in his shoulder. It was slowly leaking Energon, but some of the snow had clogged it. It looked like he had been nailed by something—it was either a plasma sword or a plasma-shot. A hand shot up to my mouth as my eyes widened in shock. "Oh…my…goodness…" I gasped. "W-what happened…?"_

"_Decept…Decepti…" he winced and touched his throat-area. "Decepti…con…zzz…"_

"_Decepticons…?" I blinked a few times and glanced down at my toes before I looked back up at the Ferrari. He was lightly touching the area where his voice box was installed. Tears began to well up in my eyes as I imagined his pain. With a blink to clear my vision, I said, "Don't try to speak, M-Mirage…please. It's only hurting you." I deducted that the Decepticons had attacked him and had done something to his voice. As soon as we got back to base and were out of the open, I was going to fix his voice box. I was beginning to miss his Italian accented voice._

_He nodded sadly and looked down. _

_I activated my comm. and tried to contact Optimus. But to my dismay, something was wrong. I was met by only static. I looked up at Mirage with a slight unnerved look on my face before a large figure landed behind him. My eyes widened again as I recognised the figure as Starscream. He grinned maliciously at me over my mech's helm before he held up a servo for me to see. In it was a long, dark-looking sword. I whimpered as Mirage turned his helm slightly in order to look over his shoulder and at the seeker._

"_Say goodbye to your beloved, _femme_," he said in his serpentine voice before he pulled his servo back and thrust the sword through Mirage's backplates and through his spark._

_Mirage's optics widened in surprise as his chassis arched away from the sword. A cry escaped his damaged voice box as he slowly began to topple forward. Starscream let go of the sword, allowing his to crash fully to the ground. "__**MIRAGE**__!" I screamed at the top of my voice box. I collapsed beside his helm and placed my hands on his cheekplates. "No…no!" I cried. My spark ached. I couldn't lose him now. I couldn't…lose him before we are sparked! "Don't die, Mirage! Don't die!" I watched as his optics slowly dimmed. He slowly reached up and rested his servo on me in a version of a hug._

"_Don't…give up…" he whispered. "Go on…without…me…"_

_I barely registered the words as I watched his optics go dark. Despair filled me as Mirage went limp. I stared at his lifeless body, not believing this was true. Mirage couldn't be dead! We were going to go back to the base, and I was going to fix him up! He was just faking it so that Starscream would go away. That was it, he was just faking it!_

"_Stop doubting the inevitable, femme," Starscream hissed. "Your precious mech is gone. Too bad you two were not bonded. It would have been so fun to see you wreathe in the pain of your shattering bond."_

* * *

My optics snapped open as I attempted to get away from that horrible nightmare as fast as I could. Chills ran across my armor and my spark raced. I was filled with anxiety and fear as the nightmare lingered in my processor and as memories from before rushed back to me.

I was a prisoner of the Decepticons.

I took a deep breath in order to calm my spark as I looked around. I took in the dark room, the dark metal walls, and I felt the hard metal table I was seemingly on. The table was tilted so that my feet were pointing downwards at what could only be a forty degree angle with my helm pointing up at the ceiling at the same angle. I was as straight as a board, on what could possibly a torture table, in what could possibly be a torture chamber. I tried to keep myself calm, but I was feeling a real urge to cry. Normally, I would be able to keep myself calm, but after that nightmare, I was finding it very hard to _not_ cry. I _really_ needed Mirage at this moment.

Several reasons for why Megatron kidnapped me in front of Prowl, the Autobot SiC, and none of them seemed good. I tried my comm., but all I got was static. They had jammed my comm., and by craning my neck, I saw that they had stripped me of my weapons. I whimpered.

Weaponless, trapped, defenseless…

Out of the corner of my optic, I noticed a figure lying on a table next to mine that was inclined on the same angle as mine. I turned and looked at the figure, my optics widening as I recognised him. Red armor…chrome… wire beard and moustache…

I was lying beside the corpse of…Sentinel Prime.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to tear myself from this tabletop. I wanted to run.

But I couldn't. My body couldn't go anywhere. It didn't possess the strength to help me free myself. I was trapped, next to the corpse of my genetic—_robotic_—grandfather (or grandsire, depending on how you put it), in a Decepticon base. Sentinel had tried to kill Optimus, had ripped the Autobot leader's arm off. He was violent, dangerous. But…he had become that, adopted those mannerisms or whatever you call it, because he loved Cybertron. He loved the planet so much that he would have sacrificed his own spark to save it.

And in a way…he had.

I turned my head and looked at the lifeless mech beside me, who made me feel tiny because of his sheer size. His helm had been repaired, it seemed, and his helmet had been bolted back on. His optics were open, staring at nothing. My spark tugged uncomfortably at this, reminding me painfully of one of the clips I had to watch during the bookwork section of my driver's training. A girl had been texting, and she had crashed head-on with another car—because she had been texting while at the wheel. This was Europe, of course, so all the cars had tiny fronts. The girl ended up surviving, but the people in the car in front of her died, leaving a little girl in the back seat alive. Another car crashed into the girl's car—the one who had been texting—and the driver of that car died too.

Amongst all that, there had been a baby. And the baby had not survived. The crash had happened so fast, and death had come so suddenly, that it didn't even have time to close its eyes. Its clear blue eyes stared at nothing. The medics tried everything to revive the baby, but it was already gone.

I had a terrible soft spot for infants or any species, and seeing anything that reminded me of an infant dying invoked a feeling of pain, loss, and sorrow within my spark.

And it didn't help that this situation was screwing up my thought processes with fear!

Suddenly, a door swung open and Megatron entered. The door closed behind him as he walked over to me. I looked up at him with wide optics that surely showed my fear. He chuckled before he reached down with one of his massive servos and grasped my left wrist. I bit back the whimper as Megatron guided it over and rested it down on Sentinel's side. "W-what are you doing?" I asked, trying to keep the stutter out of my voice.

Megatron chuckled again. "This is the reason I brought you here. I want Sentinel to see who the rightful master of the humans truly is."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Are you kidding me? You kidnapped me; you want Sentinel alive…all because you want the former Prime to know who you _are_?" I gaped. "He already _knows_ who you are, Megatron! You're—"

"Don't try my patience, young femme," Megatron growled. "I am the true master of Cybertron; I am the true master of Earth. The fleshlings that crawl all over it are _mine_ to command!"

"Why do you think you're so high and mighty? You've got a master as well. It's either Primus, Unicron, or The Fallen! And if you think about the history of those two, you would realize that Unicron was defeated by Primus, and The Fallen was defeated by Optimus. And Earth has only one master, and He's more powerful than you would ever be!"

"Silence!" Megatron thundered. He leaned down into my face. "Keep your babbling to yourself!"

I stopped talking and merely glared at the mech.

After a few moments of silence, Megatron pointed to the servo that was resting on Sentinel. "I want you to use the remaining AllSpark energy inside you to revive Sentinel Prime."

I glanced at the Prime beside me, and vented shakily. If I managed to syphon the last of my AllSpark energy into the Autobot traitor, would he turn on me, kill me, and then join Megatron again? Or would he attack Megatron, and then rush out of the base? Could I just close my optics and take a blind leap of faith? What would the other Autobots think of me if I managed to escape this? Would they think I was a traitor for reviving Sentinel?

There was only one way to find out. And it was going to be the only time I obeyed a Decepticon's order.

I didn't know how I was supposed to get the energy out of me, but with the first inkling of the thought of commanding the energy to leave me, I felt it all rush down to the servo that rested on the Prime's side. It moved in a way that made me feel that it was supposed to, and _wanted_ to heal the Prime. It rushed into Sentinel, leaving me depleted of AllSpark energy. I had no more.

The figure on the table next to mine jolted violently as the AllSpark energy coursed through him, healing any injuries that the Decepticon medics wouldn't have been able to fix. I turned my helm and watched as Sentinel's optics onlined and flashed a bright blue.

With a grunt, he realized that he was strapped to the table. But that didn't stop him as he ripped his arms free from his bonds and stood up from the table. He glared at Megatron from where he stood.

"What am I doing here, Megatron?" he growled.

"He's going to beat you to a pulp, that's why you're here," I exclaimed from where I was still strapped to my table. "He revived you so he could destroy you once again!"

Sentinel looked at me with wide optics before he turned to look at Megatron as the leader of the Decepticons barreled into him. I watched as Sentinel was pinned under Megatron for just a second before Sentinel threw him off and got to his feet. Sentinel was obviously still superior to Megatron in his skill of fighting, because before the leader of the Decepticons could even pull out a weapon, Sentinel had taken Megatron's blaster and had shot him with it.

I knew there was a camera watching all of this, and I wondered how long it would be before Decepticons came flooding into this room.

Sentinel quickly walked over to my side and looked down at me. I saw him look at my Autobot symbol before he pressed something under the table, causing my bonds to pop open. I looked at him with wide optics as he helped me off of the table and onto the ground. I looked up at him worriedly, but when he turned and walked over to back wall, something inside me told me to relax. I followed the Prime as he took out a cannon I recognised as his Cosmic Rust cannon. He pointed it at the wall and fired.

I watched as the Rust quickly ate away at the wall and left a large hole. Sentinel stepped through the hole as I watched as the rust continue to eat away at the metal. It was going to eventually eat away at the entire Decepticon base. I then looked to see where the Prime went before I followed him.

He lead me quickly through the base, shooting at any Decepticon that got in our way. Many Decepticons crumbled under the effect of Cosmic rust as Sentinel grabbed my left servo and began to run.


	3. Family Time

**Hey everyone! I'm back with another chapter. I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the idea of holoforms capable of eating human food, that is Botosphere's idea. I do not own the Transformers, but I own Mikaela/Twister and her family (minus the Cybertronian half).**

**Thanks** _Suki-Angel91494, SJSGirl, Zombiegirl0203, Iceshadow911247, sunnysides4life, _**and**_ Guest_** for reviewing!**

**Note: This is not following the DOTM storyline, TWNYN happened **_**after**_** DOTM.**

**(PS: Tomorrow, I turn 17! Yay!)**

**Jazz: Happy Birthday ta ya! Happy Birthday to ya! Happy Birthday dear Mikaela~! Happy Birthday to ya~**

**Me: Thanks, Jazz *grins***

* * *

3 – **Family Time** – 3

I knelt down by a river once we stopped, and looked down at my reflection. A couple of times in the Decepticon base, we had to stop and fight our way it out. My armor was scratched because I had to use my fists. The Decepticons had stripped me of my weapons. But now we were out.

I couldn't believe that I had been liberated by _Sentinel Prime_. He was the _Autobot traitor_! But had he changed his mind? Had he had a talking to from the Primes? I didn't know. Why did he save me? I was just a young femme… I sighed and shook my helm as I looked over my shoulder and at Sentinel, who stood in the shade of an ancient pine. My surroundings suggested that we were in the Rocky Mountains, but _where_ in the Rocky Mountains, I didn't know, because my GPS wasn't working.

Sentinel looked like he was pondering something, so I went back to looking at my reflection. Now that all of the AllSpark energy I had was gone, I felt empty. It was just a feeling, it wasn't like I had a special tank or something that held my AllSpark energy and now it was empty. It had been a part of me, a parting gift of my human life (or something like that) when I transformed into a Cybertronian. I didn't feel like me…it made me feel like half of me was suddenly gone. It suddenly made me want to get rid of that, to make myself feel whole again.

But I shoved that thought away. I wouldn't be able to get near Mirage with Sentinel tagging along. And it seemed like he was going to stick to me like glue, not like he would admit it. So what was I going to do?

_I could go back home to my family…_ I thought as I carefully dipped my servo into the river and watched as a couple of fish came up and began to nibble on my digits. But I had one question I had to ask the ancient mech who stood behind me.

"Why did you save me?"

There was a silence, and I looked over my shoulder at the fire truck-transformer. I watched as he seemed to think over what I had asked him. I wondered if he was going to answer my question at all. But I shouldn't have worried.

"I chose to rescue you because you warned me about Megatron's true intentions. You risked being beaten, if we didn't escape, for my sake."

I hummed and got to my pedes. I slowly turned towards the Prime. "I didn't have much of a choice. Megatron brought me there for the sole reason that I contained a little bit of AllSpark energy. He made me use it to revive you."

"I see…"

There was a small silence before Sentinel spoke again. "I don't recognise you. You were not here when I was brought to Earth…"

I smiled slightly. "I think that was a little rude of me," I said. "My designation is Mikaela…Prime…but I liked to be called Twister. I'm new because I used to be human…but the AllSpark and some of Optimus' Energon changed me. That's why you don't recognise me."

Sentinel stared at me hard for a few seconds before his expression softened. Slowly, it began to snow as silence descended onto us. All I could hear was the falling snow. I didn't break optic-contact with the Prime. "You are a Prime, yet you possess the mind of a human. How strange…"

I waited a few moments, pondering. "And you still do not like humans all that much. I'll have to show you that not all humans are like Charlotte Mearing and the soldiers you saw at the base."

* * *

Eventually, we figured out where we were. We were not too far from a highway, and when we were standing on the edge of it, I spotted a sign. "Twenty kilometers to Jasper, Alberta," I read. I chuckled. "Silly Decepticons! They are still using the same base we saved Sam from." I grinned up at the Prime before I transformed down into my alt-form. Sentinel transformed down into his alt-mode as well before I revved my engine and took off down the highway.

The speed was slow because of the risk of crashing into wildlife. But by the time the sun was touching the horizon, we had driven through Jasper and were crawling up to the toll-gates that would allow us out of the National Park. I winked my headlights at the man in the booth I pulled up to, and he simply waved me and Sentinel through. I revved my engine and sped away from the toll-gates with Sentinel not that far behind.

I began to muse about my family as we raced towards home. How would they react when they saw Sentinel? I knew that they had watched DOTM, so the mere sight of Sentinel's out-of-place fire truck form would probably throw them into a panic. But maybe only my brother would panic. Maybe my mother and father would stop long enough to hear me out. Sentinel hadn't made any move to kill me yet, and maybe he had a reason. I was going to talk to him some more when I got to my family's farm.

It was getting very late by the time we reached Oilfield, my hometown. After driving slowly through it, I lead Sentinel to my family's farm. I turned off my headlights and put on my night-vision as we drove past the house and parked in front of the garage. I turned off my engine, as did Sentinel when he had parked beside me, and settled down on my axels with an audible sigh. I couldn't wait to see the looks on my family's faces. I hadn't been able to see them for a few months, and I had begun to miss them.

The garage creaked slightly in the wind as snow started to fall again. That building had contained my room before all of this had started. It had been my abode. I wondered what they did to it, but I was in desperate need for recharge. I slowly shut down all my main sensors except for my audios and my Hostile Individual sensor as I prepared to recharge.

"What is this place?" Sentinel asked.

I sighed softly. "This is the farm that belongs to my human family. My human father, human mother, and human brother live in that house over there," I replied. I lazily flashed a light in the direction of the mobile home. "I thought it would be nice if we stayed here for a few days. I want my family to meet my Cybertronian grandfather."

"What…do you mean by that?" he asked, slowly. "About me being your grandsire?"

A tired chuckle left my voicebox. "Optimus is my Cybertronian father, since his Energon is what caused me to change. You're…um…his father, right?"

"Correct."

"So, you're my grandfather. I've always…wanted a grandfather."

"Why do you say that, young one? From what I had learned when I was first on this planet, most fathers of a child's parents usually live to see the child become an adult."

I whimpered. "My mother's father died in a plane crash eleven years before I was born. My other grandfather lives down in New Zealand and he's a total nutcase most of the time. I've never experienced having a grandfather before… Though, sometimes when I think about my mother's father, I feel some kind of connection, which makes me wish that he was still alive." Unconsciously, I inched closer to Sentinel's side. I decided to drop the subject and start a new one. "Why didn't you kill Ironhide? You were supposed to."

I must have shocked him by how quickly I changed subjects, because he was silent and his entire frame tensed. I began to regret asking that. But then he spoke. "The reason why I didn't kill the Autobot Weapons Specialist is because I didn't feel the need. Something inside my spark told me that I would have made a grave mistake if I had." I was shaken by his answer, so I managed to connect with him using my slowly recovering comm. system and showed him the clip of DOTM of when he killed Ironhide with his Cosmic Rust cannon.

"Michael Bay was wrong then," I muttered softly.

He asked me another question, but I slipped off into recharge and didn't have the chance to answer him.

* * *

The next morning, I awoke from recharge to hear the door of the mobile home opening. I wanted to stretch, but I settled with yawning. Drew rushed out of the house in nothing but his pajamas, a housecoat, and a pair of snow boots. I chuckled as he threw himself onto my hood with a happy cry of "Mickey!"

I shuttered happily as my brother soaked up the heat radiating up from my spark. "Whoa there, bro, be careful. You don't want to startle my fire truck friend, do you?" I leaned towards the still slumbering form of Sentinel's alt-mode. Drew looked at the Rosenbauer Panther fire truck that was parked next to me with wide eyes. Mom and Dad finally decided to step out of the house, and I watched them as they walked towards us. Dad's eyes were fixated on Sentinel, but Mom's eyes were on me as she rushed towards me as fast as her knees would allow her.

"My baby!" she cried. I nudged Drew off of my hood and transformed up into my bipedal-form before shrinking down into my human form. I opened my arms in time to hug my mother as she nearly crashed into me. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too, Mom," I said.

My family was ecstatic to see me here, but Dad was staring at Sentinel. His eyes were scanning the Prime thoroughly, looking for a flaw.

After explaining to them what had been happening over the last twenty-four hours, I transformed back up into my robot-mode and gestured to the fire truck. "This is Sentinel Prime," I quickly glanced down at them before returning my gaze to my Cybertronian grandfather's alt-form. "Now, I know you don't trust him because of what he has done, but he saved me from the Decepticons." I tapped the roof of the fire truck and took a step back. "Sentinel, are you awake?"

There was a second of silence. "I am indeed awake, Mikaela. I was merely watching the interaction between you and your…family," came the reply before Sentinel slowly began to transform. I watched calmly, but my family took a couple steps back as he rose to his full height. To them, he probably was very intimidating. I watched as he looked at me before he allowed laser-blue gaze to alight on my family. He studied each and every one of them.

I smiled. But then I remembered something when a certain someone began to tug frantically on his end of the bond. It seems like he had forgotten we possessed one. Almost. I looked at my parents. "Mom, Dad, can I borrow the phone? My comm. is not working properly."

Mom nodded, but Dad kept staring at Sentinel. "Thanks," I chirped before I transformed down into my human form and sauntered off into the house. I made sure to take my boots off before I walked into the living room, and then into the kitchen. There, I picked up a cordless phone and quickly dialed Major Lennox's cell number. Normal phones couldn't phone a Cybertronian's comm. unless they have been tweaked with. I hadn't had Wheeljack over to my family's farm yet in order to tweak with the phones. Once they were tweaked, then my parents would be able to call me more often.

The phone rang almost three times before Will picked up. "Hello?"

"Major Lennox, it's me! Twister!"

"Twister!" Lennox gasped. "You're okay!"

I mentally nodded. "Yep, I'm in one piece…though I'm missing my weapons and have a few scratches. How bad is the panicking?"

"Pretty bad," Lennox admitted. In the background, I heard something crash to the ground.

I winced. "What was that?" I asked. I was almost too afraid to ask.

"That was Skids and Mudflap. Mirage has been a little testy and has little to no patience. He really wants you back, Twister. Skids and Mudflap bugged him about something, so he took out his anger, frustration, and worry on them. He's being carted off to the brig as we speak. The two annoyances will be repaired by Ratchet, probably, before they're sent to the brig as well." He took a deep breath. "So why aren't you using your comm.? Why a phone?"

"Decepticons scrambled it. Can't use it long distance, and I tried it once and I got a lot of feedback. Should we drive down to Nevada?"

"'We'? What do you mean by 'we'?"

I looked down guiltily, even though he couldn't see me. "Um…someone _rescued_ me from the Decepticons."

"Primus, don't tell me _another_ Decepticon decided to go rogue!"

I laughed. "No, no, no, Lennox. He's not a Decepticon."

"If he's not a Decepticon…who is he?" Lennox sounded wary, making me want to laugh again.

"Um…" I said teasingly. "You'll see when we get to base. Though, I'll never forgive you if you draw your weapons on him. I understand NEST and the Autobots have a rough history with him dating back to just over a year ago?"

I gave him a few minutes of silence to let him think it over. When I heard him gasp, I had to really fight myself so I didn't laugh. "Mikaela—! You _didn't_—!"

The laughs bubbled up from my voice box. "He saved me, not the other way around, Lennox," I said. "I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, I pressed the "End" button and set the phone back down on the counter. The wide smile stayed on my face as I turned and walked back to the front door. As soon as I was standing on the mat, my boots disappeared from where I had set them and reappeared on my feet. I wiggled my toes, feeling my boots, before I stepped outside and closed the door behind me.

I walked over to my family and the Prime, transforming up into my robot-mode. I went up and stood beside Sentinel and looked down at my human family. "Mirage was a naughty mech and got himself thrown in the brig; but at least they know I live," I reported.

Sentinel snorted at the way I reported my courter's situation. I said it in a babyish way.

"So, they know you're alive," Dad said, finally tearing his eyes off of the towering mech. "Does that mean you'll have to leave right away?"

I waved that off with a smile on my faceplate. "I wasn't thinking of leaving just yet. I want to see if you guys need any help. Have any trees been blown down that need to be cleared? Holes in the roof? Any in the barn roof?" I asked.

"Well…" Dad said. "The roof of the mobile home if leaking again…"

I looked up at Sentinel. "Sentinel here was the Einstein of Cybertron. Sir, do you think you can cook something up that might stop the roof from leaking?" I asked my Cybertronian grandfather.

Sentinel seemed shocked that I was asking him something like this. It looked like he wanted to object, and I could almost hear him saying something along the lines of 'A Prime should not be treated as a worker. On Cybertron, we were gods; here, the humans still seem to treat us like machines.'

I narrowed my optics at him, even though I had to crane my neck in order to look him in the optic. "I know what you're thinking. Not all humans treat the Cybertronians as machines. Here, everyone is treated like an equal. I'm only asking that you help them." I pressed my left servo on his chest. "Because they know every Cybertronian has a soul."

* * *

Sentinel disappeared with my father, and somehow they found scrap metal. The two exchanged a few words, and I knew it would take a while for them to get used to each other. For a second, I wondered if humans unnerved Sentinel. They could sometimes swarm like scraplets.

I watched as Sentinel constructed something like a giant metal blanket with a little help from my father. Soon, it was completed, and I moved over to help Sentinel lift the blanket onto the roof. But he waved me away, and set the blanket down on the roof himself before he picked Dad up by the body harness he had put on. He carefully lowered Dad down and waited as the man nailed a nail into the nearest corner of the roof. This repeated three more times before it was done.

The blanket turned out to be lighter than it looked. It was light enough to not cause the roof to cave in, but it would keep the water out. I beamed happily at Sentinel as he stepped away from my family and my father shrugged the harness off. "Are you going to be leaving us now?" Drew asked warily.

I stopped to think for a few seconds before I came up with an answer. "Well…I have a feeling that Lennox would feel a lot better if we left now and got to the base sooner, and that Mirage is probably pacing in his cell, wanting to know if I'm alright, _but_ I want to spend some family time with you guys." I looked at my brother. "How about I play some video games with you, Drew? I have a feeling that we should stay only a few more hours." I looked up at the Prime. "I know I said that I wanted to stay here for a few days, but I've changed my mind."

So, after Sentinel transformed down into his alt-mode and activated his holoform, I transformed down into my human form and walked inside, with the grey-haired man with matching bushy moustache that made up my grandsire's holoform walking close behind me. As I sat down on the floor in the middle of the living room with my little brother, and Sentinel sat down on the couch facing the kitchen, Mom and Dad disappeared into the kitchen.

Drew fired up the Xbox and inserted the _Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen_ game disk into the machine. "Can you do any of the tricks you do in real life on the game, Mickey?" my ten year old brother asked me.

I quirked an eyebrow. "Can I? Well, I don't know, let's see if I can," I said as Drew chose multiplayer and we chose our characters. I ended up playing as Jazz while he chose Bumblebee.

"Why are you playing as Jazz? Why aren't you downloading an avatar of yourself?" my brother asked.

"I don't think the Xbox would handle it if I tinkered with it," I said. "And, for once, I want to play as someone else…"

Drew looked at me quizzically. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

I chuckled. "The soldiers on base _made_ me download a character of myself onto their _Revenge of the Fallen_ and _Dark of the Moon_ games—but that's only because Wheeljack supercharged their Xbox. So I _always_ play as myself when we played multiplayer."

"Wheeljack supercharged NEST's Xbox?! Awesome!"

I grinned as we began to play. In the end, I ended up kicking his aft three times while he got me four times. It seems that he had gotten better since I was gone. I had to admit that I hadn't got much time to practice my gaming skills, since the Decepticons had me going from one mission to the next with hardly any recharge and only one or two sips of Energon. It was nice to finally sit down and play video games. "How about a rematch?" I challenged my little brother.

He was up for it. But as I began to play, I looked at Jazz, and a marvelous idea came to mind. He would make a great birthday present for my mom…

"Alright everyone, who's up for lunch?" Mom called from within the kitchen.

I turned to look at Sentinel, who hadn't moved from the couch. "Can your holoform eat human food?"


	4. There and Back Again

**Hmm…I don't know if the beginning was a little rushed or not… But whatever, the next chapter is here! :D**

**So, I had a little fun with this chapter, and there's a cliffhanger at the end, just to make you frustrated *laughs***

**And speaking of cliffhanger, I'm experiencing one. I wrote a test, and my Science teacher takes forever to mark the tests (because this is an online school I go to and she teaches Grade 12 as well as coaching the Volleyball team…), and my mom says that if I don't get over 80%, all my writing privileges (including my notebooks…) will be taken from me! So if I disappear off of the face of the planet for a month, that means that Mom has taken over my writing passion. Please pray that I get over 80%! I have a feeling that I won't. (I'm not a normal A to A+ person…)**

**Thanks **_VioletDawn00, Iceshadow911247, Kaitlyn Thorne, SJSGirl, Marakoron, sunnysides4life, _**and**_ XxLosAngelesGirlxX _**for reviewing!**

**(Note: See the cover? That symbol under the title translates out to be our number 7. In the language of the Primes. Funny thing is, on Mirage's mission on the DOTM game, I see it amongst the "Decepticon hyroglyphs" in the Mayan temple you have to walk through. It's Prime, not Decepticon. Stupid gamemakers...)**

* * *

4 – **There and Back Again** – 4

After lunch, I felt it was time to head back to base. I hugged my parents and hugged my brother before he surprised us and hugged Sentinel's holoform. Sentinel had been shocked by this, but after he recovered, he patted Drew on the head as the ten year old let go of him. We then walked outside and Sentinel deactivated his holoform as I transformed up into my robot-form. Before I transformed down into my alt-form, I waved and said goodbye. Then we left, quickly.

We drove quickly around Oilfield and didn't heed the speed limit. Though, in the back of my mind, I hoped that we wouldn't come across any cops. I knew one that was most relentless cop one had ever seen, and he wasn't even human. And then there was Prowl…

Hmm…I wonder was happened to him. I kind of was taken from right in front of him. Had he managed to find NEST yet? If his scanners don't work, then he might be driving in circles. Prowl ended up being on my mind for a couple of hours, but as the sun set and we approached the halfway point, Mirage was on my mind. How was he? Was he still in the brig? How depressed as he? Or was he just fine?

As the hours passed, I wondered what would happen when I got to the base. Would they all draw their weapons on Sentinel, and…me? Would they consider _me_ as a traitor? My mind blanked at that that thought. They wouldn't do that…_would they_? I hoped that no one would hate me for this, because I didn't know what I'd do if people began to shun me. Nobody would, would they?

Quickly, another day passed as we drove. Soon, we entered Nevada, and a day rushed by as night approached when we drove into Tranquility. I let out a grateful sigh since the long drive was over, and I was in need of Energon. Sentinel probably needed some too. My engine practically purred as we drove down the main street. But before I could turn out onto the road that would lead us to the base, a familiar police bike pulled up beside me.

"So, you managed to escape," the holoform sitting on the motorcycle said to me.

I activated my own holoform and nodded at Prowl. "Had some help. Still looking for the Autobots?" I asked.

Prowl's holoform nodded regretfully.

I chuckled with a tired smile on my face. "Well, I'm back now. I'll lead you to the Autobots. Come along," I said as I rolled forward and then drove onto the road that lead to the base. Since there was no snow in Nevada, I was able to pour on the speed without worrying about spinning out. My engine roared and I almost giggled at the thought of seeing Mirage again. To actually, maybe hug him today, maybe get to kiss him with our holoforms or in our robot forms.

Primus, I had missed him.

The base came up quicker than I expected, and I had no time to slow down as I whizzed through the gates. I applied the brakes and my wheels locked up as I skidded across the open space in front of the base, my wheels screeching loudly as long, ink black tread-marks were left on the concrete.

Sentinel and Prowl were more careful and pulled up behind me without leaving any tread-marks. But as soon as they had all come to a stop, I transformed up into my robot form. They transformed as well. I looked over at the base and waited to be swamped with human soldiers. I expected to be swarmed by several six foot tall beings and have several guns pointed at me and the two mechs behind me. But…the huge industrial doors didn't open, and nobody came rushing out. I blinked in surprise and looked back at the two before I looked back at the base before I walked forward and looked up at the security camera.

I reached up and tapped the lens in curiosity. "Hello…? Red? Red Alert?" I called. "I know you're in there…" I waited for three minutes, and when the camera didn't twitch and the door didn't open, a bad feeling settled in the pit of my tank. I turned to the door and forced it open, accidentally bending it in the process. _I hope that that can be fixed…_ I thought as I sauntered into the hanger. But I stopped in the middle of the hanger when I saw how dark it was, and still. I looked around in nervousness before I turned and quickly walked outside again. I transformed down into my human form and walked over to the payphone that was still thankfully hooked up.

I formed holographic coins and fed them into the machine. Once it had accepted the money, I dialed Lennox's number. When he picked up, I literally screamed at the Major. "Lennox! Where the heck ARE you?!"

"Sorry, Twister. The Nevada base has been compromised. We've moved base up north, but I can't tell you exactly where because there's a chance the 'Cons have tapped into this phone conversation. I would have had one of the Autobots comm. you, but since your comm. is down, I had no way to contact you."

I smiled slightly. "It's okay, Lennox. But…could you at least give me a hint as to _where_ the base is now?" I asked.

"Sure," I could almost see him nod. "It's going to be very vague, though. Okay, here's the hint: Home is where the heart is."

"Really?" I groaned. "_All the way back up there_? Lennox! We just spent _two whole days_ of driving in order to get down here. We're getting low on Energon."

"Fine," Lennox sighed. "I'll send a C-17 down there to pick you up. Wait at Tranquility's airport."

I smiled again. "Thanks, Lennox!" I chirped.

After he hung up, I transformed up into my robot mode and smiled at the two mechs that had listened to my end of the phone conversation. Prowl was wearing a calm expression on his faceplates while Sentinel wore a look of indifference. "So," I said, "let's each run a system check before we go to the airport. A C-17 should be here in a couple of hours. Do you need to refuel?"

As they checked their status, I checked my own. **Energon levels have dropped to 40%. Must refuel.** I stared at my HUD screen for a few seconds before I looked outward at my companions. "Prowl?" I asked when his optics brightened.

"Energon level has dropped to fifteen percent. I didn't realize I was in such danger," he stated.

I glanced up at Sentinel as his optics brightened. "Forty percent," he told me.

I looked down with a sigh before I reached back into my subspace and pulled out my only Energon cube. I looked over at the Autobot strategist, and held out the Energon cube to him. "Here, take it, you need it to keep yourself from entering stasis lock," I said.

Prowl stared at me with slightly widened optics before slowly reaching out and taking the Energon cube. I looked away as he consumed the contents of the cube; instead I looked up at the sky and at the stars that twinkled down at us. I smiled slightly before I looked down at my companions. "Come along, guys. A C-17 should be here in a couple of hours." I transformed down into my vehicle-form and revved my engine. "I can't wait to get 'home'." A sigh escaped me as the two mechs collapsed into their consecutive alt-forms.

I turned and drove out onto the road. I quickly mapped out the route I was going to take in order to reach the airport with the help of my internal GPS. And with this, I lead Prowl and Sentinel through Tranquility and to the airport. But the drive to the airport had taken only thirty minutes. So when we made it to the airport, we had to sit there and wait.

Mentally, I surfed the internet as we waited. I played solitaire, chatted with a friend back in British Columbia before she had to go to bed, checked out the weather for Oilfield. It said it was supposed to snow heavily for the rest of the week. If the people at Oilfield's _long_ runway couldn't keep it clear (and if NEST used that runway), their planes would be grounded. But it wasn't like it could snow faster than the people could plow.

The time slowly ticked by, and at several points, I felt impatience race through me. But every time I felt it, I fiercely quelled it. Optimus hadn't been teaching me how to be a Prime because he hadn't wanted to make me feel that sometime in the future the burdens of a Prime would be dumped onto my shoulders, but I followed his example and tried not to act impatient. I had been working hard to self-teach myself the bare-necessities of being a Prime so that I could lessen the load when he came and began to teach me.

Finally, I spotted the C-17 as it descended from the sky and landed on the tarmac. I watched it slow to a stop before I pulled forward as the back hatch of the C-17 opened up. As the soldiers lined the ramp and made sure I wouldn't miss it, I drove up into the plane. Knowing that Sentinel was super long vehicle when in his vehicle form, I angled myself so that my left side faced the open hatch. Prowl was next in the plane, and he managed to cram his alt in by my back bumper because it was so small.

Sentinel then drove into the plane, and simply parked with his front was only a foot from my side.

Once we were all inside, the soldiers secured us to the floor. We waited as the plane took off before we activated our holoforms.

I sighed as I sat down on one of the benches and wrapped my holographic arms around myself. A small smiled appeared on my lips as I looked at the moustached man that made up Prowl's holoform. "Can't wait to show you what Canada looks like, Prowl," I said cheerfully, though my hidden exhaustion was starting to show through. I was more tired than I thought. I hadn't had the chance to recharge for a while.

A silence descended on us, and for twenty minutes none of us spoke. But then, Sentinel cleared his voice box. "Tell us more about yourself."

I looked at the two mechs and sighed. They were both staring at me with their holoforms. I didn't want to say anything, but I doubted they would leave me alone about it. "Um…I'm Mikaela…Prime…but I like to be called Twister…" I gave them a hard look. "And that's all you're getting from my mouth. If you want more info, talk to Optimus. I'm not in the mood to talk…I'm in a desperate need of recharge."

Prowl looked at me while Sentinel looked down. "You're a Prime?" he asked.

I nodded slowly. "But I'm not leading or anything."

Prowl seemed to watched me for a few more seconds before he looked away. I studied his body behaviour for a minute or so, seeing that he barely moved, before I asked him a question. "So…why did you _not_ glitch when I transformed into my human form?"

Prowl shifted slightly. "It didn't seem illogical," he stated simply.

"Hmm…how are you crammed into such a small alt? Do you have to, like, shrink parts?"

The stoic Autobot nodded. "Correct. Though this is not an ideal alt-form for me, but it was the first one I came across that matched the occupation I had before the war began."

"So you feel cramped in that alt?" at his nod, I grinned. "Well, I'll just have to show you where you can find a better one without looking like a lost puppy."

"But are you sure the humans won't…'freak out' when they see me transform? I came across a farmer when I first landed and he didn't act to positively towards my presence."

I chuckled. "That's because the farmer probably hasn't been watching TV or reading any of the newspapers lately," I said. "The world knows the Autobots exist. Most people would not freak out if you rolled up and scanned their vehicle. They'd probably feel _honored_. If you rolled up to a police station and transformed, they'd probably just say 'hi' and then continue on with what they were doing."

Sentinel looked at me. "So the humans still trust us…even after what I had done?"

I nodded. "Yes, Sentinel, they do."

* * *

We landed about two hours later at the long runway at Oilfield. The C-17 stopped normally, so I didn't have to worry about the plan of transforming, grabbing the soldiers in the cotpit, and then protecting them like I had worried about. Once it was stopped, we deactivated our holoforms as the soldiers came and freed us from the tethers that kept us from rolling around when we were in flight. The back hatch opened, and when it was fully open, Sentinel backed out slowly, careful not to run over any stray soldiers that might have been walking around.

After Sentinel was out, Prowl backed up before he turned around and drove out. I mentally grinned as Prowl's tires hit a patch of ice on the tarmac and he fell over. Soldiers swarmed him and helped him back onto his wheels so that he wouldn't have to transform. I turned around and drove out, being careful to keep control as my dry-weather tires touched the icy ground. Note to self: have Ratchet or one of the human mechanics change my tires to _snow tires_. "Hey, Prowl, Canada isn't as dry as Nevada," I teased as I rolled slowly by him as he inched across the tarmac, going slower than I was.

A Jeep rolled up to us as it began to snow heavily. I checked my chronometer and saw that it was eight in the morning. I watched as Lennox and Epps got out and jogged towards us. "Hey guys!" I greeted as they came to a stop beside me.

"Yo, Twister! Man, it's great to see you alive and well. You've been gone for a while," Epps remarked.

"Maybe with you back, you can help the 'Bots get used to this new climate," Lennox said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Their tires—except for Optimus'—were not made for the snow. Skids and Mudflap drove around for hours, trying to figure out how to find grip."

I laughed. "I guess we can save the hugs for later, then. So…where's the base?" I asked,

Lennox turned and pointed down the runway. "There's a large underground hanger that we found at the end of the runway. It's comprised of several hangers, actually. Mearing says that it was hanger used back during World War II and the Cold War to hold spare planes and ammo. It was cleared out at the end of the Cold War."

"Cool," I commented. With my sensors, I watched as Lennox left my side, walked around behind me, and walked up beside Sentinel, who was parked a few feet behind me.

"So this Sentinel Prime?" he said.

"…Yeah," I said slowly. _Please don't offend him…_ I pleaded silently.

Lennox was clearly nervous standing there next to my grandsire. "Nice to…uh…see you again…Sentinel," he said before he quickly walked away from the truck and came to a stop by my right side.

"I shall say the same to you, Major Lennox," Sentinel said. "I don't know if I could say the same of the Autobots…"

"Don't worry, Sentinel," I said. "Prowl and I will not let them hurt you in any way. I at least know _some_ of Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's battle moves in order to hold them off…for a bit. And Prowl understands what you went through back at Chicago. Don't you, Prowl?"

"I believe I do," Prowl said as he finally joined us.

"Good, now shall we go?" I asked.

Lennox nodded. "Just follow us," he said before he and Epps ran back to the Jeep. I watched as they started the Jeep up and began to drive it in the direction Lennox and pointed when he told me about the base. I followed after them, going the same speed they were as Prowl and Sentinel followed. We didn't go too fast, but even when we reached the mouth of the base, I slid a couple of feet before I was able to stop. And as soon as my wheels touched the dry concrete of the base, I felt much better.

In order to get to the main hanger of the base, we had to drive down a narrow but short concrete tunnel. As soon as we were through, though, we transformed. And that's when I remembered that I had no weapons, so if Sideswipe and Sunstreaker went all berserker on Sentinel, I wouldn't be able to do anything.

All the bots currently in the room turned to look at us. I smiled and waved at them as I mentally named them all. Optimus was standing by the catwalk, where he had been talking to Simmons, Ratchet was about to disappear into another hanger, which I could only assume was the new med-bay, Jazz had been lounging on a crate, but now he was standing, and Wheeljack had just walked into the room. Good, so the Corvette Twins were not in the vicinity.

"Hey, guys, did you miss me?" I grinned.

Optimus nodded. "We did indeed, Twister. Welcome back," he said. He then looked over my shoulder at Prowl and Sentinel. I unconsciously moved out of the way as Optimus walked towards us. I couldn't read the expression on his faceplates. Who was he going to talk to first? Prowl or Sentinel? Prowl appeared by my side as Optimus stood in front of Sentinel. I watched the two Primes as they seemed to talk to each other over a comm. channel. There were several times throughout their silent conversation where they showed what they were feeling through their body language.

I glanced at Prowl who simply gave me a nervous glance before he looked back at the two Primes. So we watched them talk over their comm. channel for another thirty minutes before Optimus took him to Ratchet so the older Prime could have a checkup before he was locked away in the brig for a few days. When Optimus walked out of the med-bay, he looked over at Prowl and I.

"Optimus?" I inquired quietly.

The Autobot leader shuddered his optics. "Both you and Sentinel say that he rescued you, Twister. Is this true?" he asked as he opened my optics.

I nodded. "It's true. I was strapped to a table, and Megatron forced me to revive him with last bit of AllSpark energy I had inside me. When he stood up, Megatron attacked him, but Sentinel managed to overpower him. Sentinel then released my bonds, and he led me out of the base." I held up my forearms, showing him that my wristblades were gone. "The Decepticons took my weapons."

Optimus nodded. "Go recharge, you need it. Your quarters are in the next hanger over, next to Arcee's. Wheeljack will equip you with new weapons in the morning."

"Ah'll take her there, Optimus," Jazz said, getting to his pedes. "Ya talk ta Prowl." I watched as the silver mech who was tall as I was walk to a door across the room from me, before I dashed after him. I caught up to him just as the door opened automatically.

"Thanks, Jazz," I told the saboteur as we quickly walked down the hall, nearing what I could only guess was the rec room because of all the voices I could hear coming from inside it.

He grinned at me, his visor flashing in a wink. "No problem, Twistette," he grinned. "We've all missed ya. Do ya want to say 'hey' to the othah 'Bots before ya recharge?"

After thinking for a few seconds, I nodded. Maybe Mirage was in the rec room…

Jazz grinned wider as we turned into the rec room. As we stepped inside, I heard several conversations going on at once. My name was thrown about once or twice and I wondered why. Did they not know I was safe? Were they planning a rescue? So after listening to them chatter about different things, I raised my voice and hollered, "QUIET!"

All conversations stopped abruptly. As silence descended on the room, the mechs and femmes in the room turned to look at me. I waved at them quietly.

Familiar red armor caught my optic as Mirage shoved his way through the crowd before he stood in front of me. His doorwings twitched in a way that he was fighting between being disbelieving and overjoyed at my presence. I closed the gap between us and wrapped my arms around him. But the tender reunion was stopped before it could get going when the tip of an awfully familiar sword touched my chin. I followed the sword up to a hand and then up an arm until I was looking up into the narrowed optics of a well-known goldenrod mech.

"She brought _Sentinel Prime_ here," Sunstreaker growled.


	5. Reminiscing

**Yep, so I've decided that I'm calling Que by his real name, Wheeljack. Jazz's persistence of calling the bot by his original name grew on me XD**

**Jazz: Darn right!**

**Anyway, sorry for taking so long. Mom and Dad think I'm not focusing on school enough, so they've taken my writing privileges away until I can finish 2 CALM assignments, 2 HCS 3000 assignments (and you know what's so annoying about HCS? I'VE ALREADY DONE IT! But I have to do it, since I chose to volunteer in the hospital), and 5 hours of exercise. I've already done the five hours, and one of the CALM assignments, but I have done the rest. So while my parents are out, I'm posting this for you. Love you guys!**

**Thanks **_Marakoron, SJSGirl, XxLosAngelesGirlxX, Naughtia, _**and**_ CalicoKat35_** for reviewing! This will help me push through so I can bring you more chapters! I just have to think of this situation as working to unlock my writing privileges—like unlocking Ratchet for the DOTM game!**

* * *

5 – **Reminiscing** – 5

I instantly froze, my optics widening as fear raced through me. Had he just accused me of being a traitor?

"Back off, Sunstreaker," Mirage growled as he knocked the sword away and pushed me behind him. "She has done nothing wrong. Sentinel Prime saved her from the Decepticons."

Sunstreaker sneered. "And now he's in the brig. Know why? Because _nobody trusts him_. Who knows, she might be a part of some elaborate plan involving the Decepticons. We can't trust her. Who knows, she might have _joined them_!" As he spoke, I felt my temper begin to rise. "She might not have any weapons, but that only shows that the Decepticons might have disarmed her as a precaution!"

"Sunny! What're you doing?" Sideswipe exclaimed. "You know Twister's with the Autobots! She's a Prime for crying out loud!"

Sunstreaker glared at his twin brother. "The title of Prime does not automatically make you a saint, Sideswipe. Look at what Sentinel did, for example. He's a Prime, and he betrayed us!"

Sideswipe's blades slid out of his wrists and he held them up angrily. "Yeah, well Twister wasn't always a Prime. She used to be a normal, average squishy that didn't know we existed. She has a good spark."

I unintentionally shuttered as Jazz came up and stood beside Mirage, further shielding me from the hot-tempered mech. "Ah agree wit Sides," Jazz announced. "Ah was wit her longah than any o' yah. Ah was tha' first 'Transformah' she came inta contact with." He crossed his arms. "She'd nevah hurt her friends _or_ family."

My doorwings drooped as silence descended on the room. I fought back a whimper as I heard Sunstreaker and Sideswipe shift. I didn't dare to breathe. If I did, I was afraid a fight would break out. But then I realized something. Sunstreaker didn't like me. I suddenly wanted to unleash my wrath on the golden mech, but when I went to walk around Jazz and give Sunstreaker a piece of my mind, there was a sharp tug on my father-daughter bond with Optimus. Great, he had felt my feelings of malice towards the golden frontliner. He would severely punish me for disobeying him if I ignored him.

And all my fight left me. _"Yes, Optimus…"_ I said meekly through the bond. _I won't strangle him…yet._

"Alright, mechs," the familiar voice of Jetstream announced, "Break it up!" Over Jazz's shoulder, I managed to get a glimpse of the mahogany coloured triple-changer that I had met back when I was captured by the Decepticons. Jetstream walked over to Sunstreaker and grabbed his arm. "Alright, you, off to the brig you go!"

Sunstreaker whirled on the triple-changer and punched him in the face. "You're not my superior, you're my equal! Hands off!" the irate Corvette growled as Jetstream fell to the floor, dazed.

"That was uncalled for!" I heard Arcee exclaim.

I found myself cowering as the air grew tenser and tenser by the minute. I backed away, knowing a fight was going to break out. I quickly turned and ran from the room.

* * *

The next morning, I onlined slowly, feeling stiff. But instead of being lazy, I rose from my berth, and grabbed a cube of Energon. I quickly drank it before I tossed the cube into the trash and exited my new quarters. I stretched slightly as I made my way to the main room, humming once of my favourite songs as I stepped into the room and walked up to the catwalk where Lennox and Epps were standing. I looked at them, though they were busy looking at one of the many computers that were sitting on the catwalk, so I turned and walked away.

::Where are you, Mirage?:: I comm. linked my partner.

::I'm just coming from the sparring hanger. Where are you?::

I smiled sadly. ::Main hanger. I want to get out of here. It just seems so depressing all of the sudden. Did you know that not one person has said hello to me yet this morning?:: I shuddered, tears welling up. ::Do they hate me? Do they hate me for what I did? For bringing Sentinel here?::

I never believed that they would turn their backs on me… Yesterday, Lennox and Epps seemed fine with me (though they seemed pretty busy this morning), but did Sunstreaker manage to convince the others that I had turn-coated? But I hadn't! I was still an Autobot!

Absently, I heard a door slid open then close behind me before I pair of arms wrapped around me tightly, comfortingly. I looked up behind me and saw Mirage. I leaned back into his embrace. ::They do not hate you, _amore mio_. Sunstreaker is just naturally suspicious and hot-tempered.::

A content sigh escaped me. ::Alright. At least you weren't locked away in the brig. Can we go on a drive? I'd like to see my family again.::

Mirage nodded. I smiled softly before I straightened and transformed down into my alt-form. Mirage transformed after me and revved his engine cheekily. ::So you wanna race, my Ferrari? Bring it!:: I revved my engine and drove over to the entrance, but before I could reach it, a blue Einstein-like mech ran from a hanger (that wasn't the med-bay), waving his arms madly. Wheeljack, aka Que. "Wait, Twister!" he exclaimed in his mixed-European accent. "I haven't equipped you with your new weapons yet!"

I sighed, mentally rolling my optics before I transformed up into my robot-form. Mirage returned to his robot-form as I followed the Mercedes Benz-transformer into his laboratory. "You'll my-as-well follow me, Mirage. It's only going to take a few moments," I told my partner.

"I…see…" he replied.

In the lab, Wheeljack had me sit down on a chair and hold out both of my servos. I followed his commands and waited patiently as I watched him pick up the first weapon. I sat that it was a gun. "So, are these weapons any different from my old ones?" I asked.

"Not really," Wheeljack smiled. He held the gun up for me to see. "This gun shoots bullets containing acidic plasma, which once it comes into contact with the armor of, say, a Decepticon, it'll eat away at the armor until it cools. This gun, though, should only be used for when you're caught alone with a Decepticon who is larger than you and is overpowering you at the time."

"Sweet," I said with appreciation.

Quickly, Wheeljack attached it to my right wrist and I winced in pain as it transformed into my arm and integrated itself into my weapons system. I lifted my arm up and looked at it, smiling when it looked like I wasn't even loaded with a gun.

Wheeljack picked up another gun and held it out for me to see. I grinned. It was a sniper-rifle just like the one I had before. After attaching it to my right forearm, he held up a pair of wristblades. My optics widened at the fact that they were different than the ones I had before. Where my old ones had been smooth, these ones had teeth. These kinda reminded me of the electric turkey knife blades that were used to cut turkey at my house. "Whoa…" I gaped.

Wheeljack chuckled. "Brilliant, I take it?" at my nod, he practically beamed. "I figured that you needed more effective weaponry considering how easy it was for Megatron to capture you, so when you were recharging yesterday, I tweaked the blades a bit. I hope you're satisfied."

"Satisfied? I love them, Wheeljack!" I exclaimed. It almost felt like Christmas morning.

After those blades were equipped, I quickly sheathed them. I went to get up, but Wheeljack placed a servo on my shoulder. "You're not racing to your family's farm until you've got proper snow tires on."

"Oh." After a few seconds of silence, I asked, "Why are you changing my tires? I thought Ratchet or one of the human mechanics would change my tires."

"Ratchet's a little busy," Wheeljack explained.

"Oh." I leaned over slightly in order to see Mirage. "Mirage, have your tires been changed?" At his nod, I relaxed and straightened.

I waited patiently as Wheeljack replace my wheels one by one by first taking my custom hubcaps off. Then he unbolted the tire and replaced it with a snow tire before sticking the hubcap back on. After all that was done, I felt better because I wouldn't have to worry about spinning out.

Mirage and I quickly left the lab after I thanked the scientist. We transformed down into our alt-forms and raced out of the base, our engines practically roaring in challenge. I was thrilled and felt the Cybertronian version of adrenaline race through me. To race with my courter once again…

We got out onto the open road after driving down the tarmac, and pressed the petal to the metal. I cheered as I came up beside Mirage when we turned onto the highway leading out to my family's farm. Let's see how fast you can go, Mirage.

* * *

We reached the farm without any mishap, though it began to snow. When we hit the driveway, I transformed up into my robot form and bid Mirage to do the same. Once he had transformed, we snuck through the trees and I told him what I was doing through a comm. Mirage couldn't help but chuckle softly out loud. I grinned at him as I ducked under a partially fallen tree and then stepped over a log.

Mirage's doorwings jerked up and down in suppressed laughter as he followed close behind me. Other than our soft footsteps and the creaking of his doorwings, we were silent as we neared the clearing the mobile home was situated in. I could help the maniacal giggle that escaped me as I came to the edge of the trees and peered out into the clearing. I scanned everything as snow tried to build on my shoulders, but melted before it could. Mom and Drew had to be inside the house, but I could see Dad outside, chopping wood.

I stepped out from between the trees and watched as he cut some wood before he hefted it over to the house. I slowly crept over to him, being as quiet as I could since the snow almost came to my ankle. Mirage had his cloak on as he followed me on his toes. I approached my father from behind, and he hadn't noticed my presence yet. I noticed that he was stumbling under the weight of the wood, so I reached down and grabbed the wood up from his hands, but to my surprise, he continued to hold onto the wood and was carried up into my servos. "Hey, Dad!" I chirped.

Dad scrambled around in my hands in order to right himself, but he ended up bumping into my chest a couple of times. Once he had managed to get his feet he turned and looked up at me. He blinked his heterochromatic eyes at me a few times before a confused look appeared on his face. "Mikaela? What're you doing back here so soon? You just left!" he gaped.

I chuckled. "By the time Sentinel and I got down to Nevada, we found that NEST had moved up here because the Decepticons found out about the base. So I'm close to home and you guys now," I explained.

Mirage deactivated his cloak and appeared in front of me. "Equipped with snow tires," he supplied.

"Good to see you," my father said breathlessly. "Do you two want to…come inside?"

"That'd be nice," I said, glancing up at the red mech that stood only a few feet in front of me. At his nod, I carefully lowered my father to the ground before I transformed down into my human form. I heard Mirage transform down into his alt-form as I followed my Dad to the house, the logs set off to the side, before Mirage's holoform appeared beside me. We walked to the house, and went inside. I took my boots off by the door as Mirage took off his holographic work boots and set them down next to mine.

I walked into the house and stopped in the middle of the living room. I looked around, wondering where my brother was, before movement in the kitchen caught my eye. I looked over at that direction and smiled slightly when I spotted my mother. She was busy baking cookies. I walked into the kitchen and stood behind my mother as she took a batch of the cookies out of the oven. I stayed out of her view and waited until she had put the cookies down on the counter before I wrapped my arms around her. "Hey, Mom."

To say that she freaked with happiness would be an understatement. I waited patiently for her to calm down, and when she did, she sat me down in the living room. She down across from me on the computer chair and leaned forward. Then she threw questions at me left, right, and center. That caught me off guard, but with Mirage's and Dad's help, I answered them all.

* * *

Barricade patrolled the perimeter of Oilfield. He scanned every nook and cranny, every alley and side street, making sure there was no Decepticon activity. So far it had been quiet. That was good because, then, that meant that the Decepticons had no idea where their new base was. But that didn't make the ex-Decepticon feel all that comfortable with what had happened. He had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. Like something _really_ bad.

He rolled past the house he had spotted Twister's brother playing at. It seemed that the kid was at a friend's house, since he had seen the kid running around with another boy about his age. Though, when the kid saw him, he cowered a bit before he ran inside, screaming something about "a Decepticon invasion". Obviously Twister didn't inform Drew that he was an Autobot now.

Barricade sighed and parked off to the side of the road only a little ways down from Drew's friend's house. He kept his scanners peeled as he settled down for some thought processes. Becoming an Autobot, it seemed, was the best choice he could have made.

As the ex-Decepticon sat there, he got the feeling that someone was watching him. Quickly, he scanned round for the source, but found nothing. So he continued to sit there, and thought about the Cody boy he had seen at the house just up the street. He seemed to be only a few years older than the Lennox girl, Annabelle. The two would probably make good friends if one didn't just happen to live down in Nevada and one up in Alberta. He had no idea why he was thinking of friendships, though. He wasn't one for getting close to another bot.

He was suddenly ripped from his thoughts, though, when Drew came running at him with a baseball bat cocked and his mouth open wide as he screamed. The kid's face was twisted up in a mixed up look of anger, terror, and bravery. Barricade braced himself for dented armor and broken lights and windows.

"Take THIS, Decepticreep!"


	6. So You Want Me to Do What!

So, hey people, no bold lettering for the body of this AN. Anyway, sorry for taking so long. I didn't get my computer taken away from me, and then I did because my father thought my room was too messy and my grandmother was coming to stay at our house for Christmas and I'm writing anyway because Dad is not home and my mom thinks I'm doing an assignment…

Man…that run-on sentence made me sound a lot like Bluestreak…almost.

Anyway, I'm writing. I finally got this chapter done, and the story can progress! And that makes me happy, because I have plans—plans having something to do with the AllSpark!

Note: Comm. sessions with more than two bots in them will be written down like this: '**::blah blah blah:: - Autobot/Decepticon**', but when there are only two bots, it'll be written as it was originally.

Thanks _**SJSGirl, Kaitlyn Thorne, Naughtia, **_and_** XxLosAngelesGirlxX**_ for reviewing! You're the best!

**Orbital-cycle: **1 day

* * *

6 – **So You Want Me to Do What?!** – 6

I stared at my brother who now sat in the palm of my servo, his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. He had bravely taken on Barricade and had dented his armor and shattered his headlights. But Barricade was not a Decepticon anymore, he was an Autobot, so my little brother's actions were not acceptable. I thought that maybe I should take him to Prowl so that he could get the lecture of all lectures for what he did. He needed _someone_ to pound reality into my brother's head. But I decided against it, so I set him down and transformed down into my vehicular form.

I opened my passenger door, and urged my brother in. He tried to go after Barricade again, who was standing in his robot mode, but I activated my holoform and had to forcefully wresle him into my alt-mode. He even tried to hit me as he screamed something about Barricade just pulling the wool over our eyes. I was tempted to sedate him, but I was worried that would make my mother angry at him, so once he was in the seat, I wrapped my seatbelts around him as tightly as I could before I deactivated my holoform and shut the door.

* * *

I knelt down by a pool, one that sat in the middle of a sandy wasteland. I wondered why I was there, but I didn't want to think about it. I tended to think too deeply about some things, and I'd keep thinking and thinking until I would stop thinking altogether. I stared down at my reflection in the pool, finding it funny how similar my face looked to the one I had when I was human, and now my human form. Since my armor was black, my helmet was black as well. It covered my head and had three short spikes sticking out the back, level with the top of my helm. It came down and covered my cheeks, letting only a little bit of silver show around my mouth, up around my nose, and around my optics.

Yes, I was different now.

I was a thin femme, thin and light. Fifteen feet tall with a pair of large doorwings on my back. Black armor covered me from helm to pede (metaphorically), letting only a little silver show on my legs, arms, and abdomen. Two of my wheels were mounted on the back of each of my calves, while the other two wheels were mounted where my heels should have been. Did that mean I could retract my pedes and use the wheels as skates? I had always wondered…

The pond never wavered as I stared down at my reflection. Another reflection suddenly appeared beside mine, though, and my optics widened. I backed away from the pool and turned to face the stranger. He was tall towering over me. I barely reached his knee. He was thin, like the Primes I had met when I had been "killed" in Calgary all those months ago, but his armor was distinctly white and his helm and faceplates looked more human. And in the center of his chest was a glowing blue ball. I wasn't sure if it was his spark or not.

This being had an aura that made him seem ancient and powerful, so in respect, I went down on one knee, no caring if sand got under my armor. It's not like it's still be there when I'd wake up.

"There is no need for you to bow, Mikaela. I have merely summoned you here so that Alpha Trion may speak with you," the ancient Cybertronian told me.

I looked up at him in shock before I scrambled to my feet and looked around. Alpha Trion? This was the first time I had heard the name of one of the remaining Thirteen. I stood there, looking up at the mech that had summoned me here with wide optics. "What…what is your designation…?" I asked slowly.

"I am Vector Prime," the mech told me before he took a few steps backwards before he disappeared in a flash of light. From what I knew about him, I guessed that he had teleported himself back to outside of time and space.

And just as fast as Vector Prime had disappeared, another mech appeared, one I hazard to guess was Alpha Trion. His armor was navy blue with white trim, and his optics were a beautiful shade of sky blue. I simply watched him as he came to a stop in front of me. He was shorter than Vector Prime, probably only a few feet taller than Optimus because I almost reached his waist. His face also looked very human, along with his helm. I wanted to bow, but I had a feeling that it might just fluster the Prime, so I fought the urge.

"Are you Alpha Trion?" I asked.

At his nod, I relaxed.

"I have had you brought here because I have an important mission for you, and you alone," he told me.

A mission? "What kind of mission, sir?" I asked.

Alpha Trion looked up for a few seconds. "You are familiar with the existence of the AllSpark?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Are you familiar with the first and second laws of thermodynamics?"

I nodded again.

"You must wonder about what happened to it when the boy shoved it into Megatron's chest…"

I bobbed my head in a nod again. "Yes…?"

Alpha Trion looked down into the pool and I felt the urge to do the same. I stared down at our reflections as I wondered what Alpha Trion was going with this. But then the reflection suddenly disappeared and was replaced by an image of the Cube. Before it was destroyed, of course. "The power of the AllSpark is not gone, young femme. It will never be gone. It cannot be destroyed. The shards of the AllSpark's physical form have been scattered far and wide, though most of them are still on Earth. Some of them are on other planets, in Cybertronian colonies." He turned to look at me. "Are you willing to leave Earth for several orbital-cycles in order to retrieve these shards?"

I stared up at the ancient Cybertronian with wide optics. "Orbital-cycles equal one Earth day, right?"

He nodded.

"Well, if I'd only be gone for a few days, then I'd be okay to leave Earth for a while…" I mused. "Wait…" I looked up at him. "Where am I going? How will I get there?"

"The first planet you'll have to go to is one called Daedalus. It orbits the star Proxima Centauri, approximately 4.3 light-years from Earth. There's a Cybertronian colony there, one called Daedalus Centauri, deriving from the names of the planet and its star."

I gazed at him curiously. "Is there a ship that I can fly so I can get there without taking thousands of years to do so?" I asked.

"Yes."

"…Where?"

"You will know when you wake up, young one," he told me. "Now…you have to figure out how to tell your friends where you will be going without having…as the humans say…'cling-ons'."

I giggled at the way Alpha Trion pronounced the word 'cling-on'. It was as if he was confused as to why humans had created such a word. I managed to calm myself before I ended up embarrassing myself. "I'll find a way," I told him.

* * *

I woke up in my bed in my room above the garage. I sat up slowly as I thought about the dream I had. But it wasn't a dream. I had been summoned to the desert-place where most of the Primes resided. By Vector Prime.

Climbing out of bed, I walked over to the front window and looked outside. I sighed when I saw that it was still dark out. I glanced over at the digital clock sitting on my nightstand (because I didn't feel like checking my internal chronometer), and saw that it was only five in the morning. I didn't feel like going back to sleep, so I quietly opened the door leading down to the garage and went down the steps. At the bottom of the steps and turned to look at the Ferrari-red figure stretched out on the concrete floor of the garage.

I stifled a giggle at the sight of Mirage splayed out on his back as he recharged. The night before, I remembered hearing him telling my father that he was going to recharge in my robot form just in case a Decepticon attacked. The Decepticons didn't know where we were, though, so I doubted that they would attack. But Mirage was still pretty cute when he recharged.

Quietly, I slipped out into the early morning, making sure I had boots on and a sweater as I walked away from the garage. I stopped in the middle of the yard and looked up at the sky. Up there, somewhere, there was a colony with how many AllSpark shards in it. I would have to leave everyone I knew for a short time before so I could get them. Get them before the Decepticons found out about them.

Maybe, once we got the AllSpark back, we would be able to go back to Cybertron, and with its power, rebuild it. That would be fantastic.

But what about my human family? I couldn't leave them… I knew that, with the Space Bridges, it would only take a few seconds to get back to Earth once they had been set up, but by the time we would get one set of Space Bridge, probably a decade or a century would have already passed before that kind of travel would be readily available. My family would be gone…

I would stay then, to keep Drew from battling anymore ex-Decepticons on his own.

That reminded me of what had happened the day before. I had to stop Drew from beating poor Barricade up. After I had gotten the baseball bat away from my brother, I had to take him home. Drew was then lectured by my father about respecting others…before Drew was sent up to his room—grounded.

I laugh when I think about it now, but it still made me realize that I was going to outlive my father, my mother, my brother, my brother's children, the children's children, and so forth. I was now nigh immortal and I would die until someone either killed me, or I was thousands upon thousands of years old. That was hard to think about.

Slowly, I bent down and created a snowball, trying to direct my thoughts to something less depressing. Slowly, I rolled the snowball across the ground, allowing it to gather more snow until I made a huge snowball almost as tall as I was. Then I rolled it to the center of the yard before I began to make another snowball, one smaller than the first. Once it was done, I set it off to the side and created the last snowball, which would serve as the head of the snowman I was creating. The "head" was the quickest to make because of its small size, so after it was done, I transformed up into my robot form and built the snowman carefully.

Once it was standing, I activated my holoform and used it to creep back to the garage. I snuck in and took a few nuts and bolts before I snuck out and placed them in my real-form's awaiting servo. I then deactivated my holoform and decorated the snowman. Two clusters of nuts created the eyes of the snowman and a bolt created the nose. A few more bolts created a smile that made the snowman look very happy. The total opposite of what I was feeling.

My family was going to pass on without me.

When I died, would I even actually go to the same place they would? Was the Well of AllSparks or the Matrix actually heaven? Maybe not the Matrix, since the Matrix of Leadership was in Optimus' chest…

Where would I go when I died?

I didn't know how long I was just standing there, thinking, but out of nowhere, I suddenly felt someone grip my shoulder. I absent mindedly looked up at Mirage, who was fully awake, and was touching my shoulder. _Would I go to heaven as well, because I was born a human?_

"Mikaela, are you alright?" Mirage asked me as I left my thoughts.

I looked away from him. "Not really," I admitted before I turned around and hugged him. "My processor hurts with how much I have been thinking."

Mirage placed a few digits under my chin and tilted my head back so that I was looking into his optics. "What have you been thinking about, Mikaela? What has caused you to think so hard?"

For some reason, I couldn't look him in the optic. He wouldn't believe me, would he? "I had a dream," I told him.

He was confused. "What kind of dream?"

I took a deep breath. "I dreamt that I was in this desert with Alpha Trion. I don't know if I told you, but the ancient Primes are the reason I am a Cybertronian and still with you today." I paused, wondering if he was going to say anything. But he didn't say anything, so I continued. "Alpha Trion told me that the AllSpark has not been destroyed."

This time, Mirage did say something. "The AllSpark is not gone? How can this be?" I looked up at him and saw the shocked look on his faceplates.

I gave him a sarcastic look. "I found an AllSpark fragment, and Sam found an AllSpark sliver. It's not completely gone."

Mirage seemed to calm down. "Did…Alpha Trion tell you where to find the first fragment?"

I nodded. "It's 4.3 light-years away, on a planet called Daedalus orbiting the red dwarf star named Proxima Centauri. There's a Cybertronian colony there," I told him.

"Are you sure that was not _just_ a dream?" he asked.

I gave him a look. "_Il mio uomo_," I said, grabbing his attention by speaking in the language of the nationality he had adopted. "I saw Alpha Trion, and he spoke to me. Are you telling me that it was all just a figment of my imagination?"

Mirage's optics widened in surprise at what I said. "…No. No! No, _mia dolce_! I just didn't see what you saw. You know that it is hard to _not_ doubt you." He placed his servos on my shoulders. He lowered his helm and kissed me on the forehelm. "But I love you, and I will not say that what you experienced during your recharge was fake. Show me something that will solidify the truth of your words."

My optics brightened as a smile appeared on my faceplates. "I know how to show you," I said happily. _There's a ship somewhere. Alpha Trion said that I would know where the ship is. But where is it?_

* * *

My thoughts swirled with possibilities as Mirage and I sat down in the snow next to the house. There were several ships that I had heard about from back when I was just a Transfan. The _Ark_, the _Orion_ (from _Transformers: Animated _that later ended up being Omega Supreme), the _Steelhaven_ (which I doubted was even on Earth. It was probably rusting on the surface of Cybertron), and some others. Other than my raging thoughts, it was quite quiet, and I was content to sit beside my courter as we waited for my family to wake up. We didn't say anything as the sun rose and warm light cascaded down onto my armor.

_If I ever had to leave this planet for longer than a couple of days, I think I'd be depressed,_ I thought. _Though,_ I grimaced, _I never would miss the bugs,_ I added as I thought about the June bugs and the spiders I had run into.

Eventually, my mother came out of the house in nothing but her pajamas, a housecoat, and a pair of snowboots. Mirage jolted in surprise at the sight of her apparel before looking away, unsure if it was proper for him to gaze upon my mother when she wasn't properly dressed. I smiled. Mirage was such a gentleman-bot.

Mom noticed his discomfort. "It's alright, Mirage. You can look at me. I'm wearing clothes and nothing's showing, so it's okay," she said with a smile. "Just comes to show how much you are the right guy for my daughter."

Mirage understood what Mom was getting at, having been on Earth for almost three years now, but I would have to pull her aside sometime before I left the surface and explain to her some of the Cybertronian terms that the Autobots hadn't swapped out for human ones yet. "As you wish, _signora_," he said respectfully and simply watched the woman as we struck up a conversation.

We talked about how Drew had dented Barricade and what the Autobots were doing back at base. Mom said she wanted to see Jazz since she had just learned that he was back from the dead and wanted to know if he was truly alive. She really was sad when she had watched Jazz get ripped apart by Megatron in _Transformers_. I thought it was a great idea to have the small silver mech meet my mom. He might keep her from feeling so stressed when I wasn't around.

"I'll talk to him about it, Mom. He'll probably want to come out here and meet you when he's not on duty," I smiled.

Mom smiled at me before she returned to the house. I watched her go before I was interrupted by a sudden comm. buzz. **::Are you there, Twister?:: - Optimus Prime**

I huffed a sigh and rolled my optics. I looked at Mirage and invited him to patch into the comm. link. **::Here, Optimus.:: - Twister**

**::And I, also.:: - Mirage**

There was a small silence before Optimus spoke. **::I need you both back at Autobot Headquarters immediately. There are a few things we need to discuss.:: - Optimus Prime**

**::What's it about?:: - Twister**

I felt uneasy about the tone of voice Optimus was using. I couldn't tell what emotions rode it, but he sounded uneasy even though his tone was very calm. Uh oh, had I done something wrong? Suddenly, I felt like I had been caught with my hand in the cookie jar, even though I had done nothing wrong.

**::It's about the dream you had last night, Mikaela. I saw it through the bond.:: - Optimus Prime**

My spark fluxed uncomfortably at that. **::Y-you saw that?:: - Twister**

_Had Alpha Trion known that that would happen?_ I wondered.

**::Indeed. Now come, this is an urgent matter.:: - Optimus Prime**

**::If I may cut in?:: - Mirage**

There was a pause. **::You may.:: - Optimus Prime**

Mirage cleared his voicebox. **::About the dream: Mikaela has already told me about it. If you require her to do anything, include me in it.:: - Mirage**

I was shocked. **::Mirage!:: - Twister**

**::Be calm, **_**bello**_**.:: - Mirage.**

**::You must hurry, you two. If the Decepticons catch wind of this, it might have terrible consequences.:: - Optimus Prime**

**::Yes, sir!:: - Twister**

**::Affirmative, Prime.:: - Mirage.**

And with that, the comm. link was quickly severed. I blinked a few times as I focused on the outside world. Mirage shook his helm as his optics look slightly longer to online then he liked. I grinned at his slightly frustrated expression before it disappeared. "The cold is getting to you, Mirage. C'mon, I just have to say goodbye to my family, and then we can go," I told him. He nodded once.

I transformed down into my human form and walked into the house. Making the boots disappear from my feet, I walked into the kitchen. Quickly, I said goodbye to my family and hugged them before I left. I transformed up into robot form before I collapsed into my alt-mode. Mirage did the same a few seconds later before we peeled out. But I had a bad feeling in the pit of my tank. How was this conversation with Prime going to turn out?


	7. Off We Go

**Hey, everyone. Here's the next chapter. I hoped you all will enjoy it, even though it seems slightly rushed to me. I dunno, it's just my opinion, I guess.**

**So I've decided to respond to each review I get, so you'll find them at the bottom of the chapter. :D See you down there!**

**(Note: the disks of some hover-cars (disks as in the hover-technology that make the car…hover) can be used like doorwings, and since Mirage is a doorwinger, he can use them. If that makes any sense.)**

* * *

7 – **Off We Go** – 7

I walked out of Optimus' office with Mirage close behind me. "That went well," I said with a sigh. I glanced back at the Autobot spy I knew as my courted and intended and stopped, waiting for him to come up beside me. The meeting had gone okay…but Optimus had ordered us to use extra precaution _after _he announced that my future husband/mate was to come with me. It wasn't like I minded. I was actually elated. I would have been so alone if I had to go by myself.

Mirage, though, had to go to Ratchet and swap his Ferrari alt for a Cybertronian hover-car so he would be able to blend in more once we got to the colony. I had a strong feeling that it was because he was a popular Autobot. He also had to have a visor installed to cover up his optics…though I had no idea why. Mirage seemed to understand where Optimus was going with that, though.

Optimus seemed very…worried for my well-being. I guess it was because I was his "biological" daughter and that if I went off-world, he wouldn't be able to just hop on a C-17 and come save me. I mentally sighed fondly; it's nice to know people who cared about me. Because of his worry, he asked to have me wear a visor also. I was going to debate with Mirage on what colour we should choose for our visors. I thought it would look nice if we matched.

We began to walk down the hall. "Prime seemed genuinely concerned about your well-being. For a few kliks I wondered if he would consider banning you from going off-world without him," Mirage said, amused.

I shrugged, unable to respond to that statement, as my audios picked up the sound of cat-like pedes following me. I half-turned and looked behind me, and saw that Pebbles was following close behind us, her large green optics bright as she paid attention to the both of us. I looked up at Mirage. "I guess Pebbles will be coming with us as well," I told him. "I bet Optimus thought about her, and allowed me to go because she provides extra protection." I glanced back at her again. "Maybe…" I said, switching topics, "maybe our visors should be green. Like Pebbles' optics. I've been learning about how family units worked back before the war, and sometimes a couple that hadn't had a sparkling yet, but had a pet of some sort, wore visors that matched their pet's optics." At his incredulous look, I quickly finished my explanation. "If we did that, it'd help us blend in better. We would look like a newly-sparked couple."

Mirage seemed to process my suggestion for minute or two. Then he slowly nodded. "Good thinking," he said. "I'll request that Ratchet calibrate both of our visors to be green."

I smiled up at him happily as we came to the door of the med bay. But before we could enter, Prowl approached me. "Good orbit," he greeted.

I waved. "Good morning, Prowl. What's up?"

He allowed a small smile, even though he seemed slightly confused with my choice of words. "If I remember correctly, before you were captured by Megatron, you said you would help me find a new alt-form. I'm afraid I will not be able to sustain this alt for much longer. The strain on the subspace technology drains my Energon more quickly when I'm in alt-mode," he told me.

I snapped my digits as I remembered. "Right!" I said. "Well, Mirage needs to change his alt for this mission, so I think I'll be able to take you to Oilfield's police station."

"Thank you," the black and white mech said with a nod.

I turned back and looked at Mirage. "I'll be right back, okay?"

He smiled slightly before he nodded as well.

Prowl and I drove out of base, and I lead him into town. We crossed both halves of the highway before I turned left. The police station sat next to the highway and many of its cruisers sat behind it. I had no doubt that Prowl would be able to find the right alt-mode.

We came to a stop behind the station, and we transformed up into our robot-forms. I gestured towards the cruisers and took a step back, already knowing from prior times of seeing them that there were several generic Ford Crown Victoria cruisers, a Mustang (other than Barricade), a Camaro, and several Dodge Chargers. I'd allow Prowl to choose. I wasn't going to help him choose. I had done it before and someone got mad at me. I had a feeling that being on Optimus' second in command's bad side would be…well…_bad_.

I watched as the mech walked between the rows of police cruisers, rubbing his chin, as he seemed to march back and forth. His optics moved from side to side as he studied the cars. A cruiser manned by a police officer pulled up beside me, and the officer got out. I looked down at him and he looked up at me. "May I…help you?" he asked before turning to watch Prowl as he paced between the cars.

"Not really," I told him. "But thanks anyway."

I continued to watch as the officer then walked into the station, and Prowl seemed to make up his mind. He scanned a Dodge Charger, and I watched with fascination as he downloaded the information he got off of it. Any notions of being polite and maybe not watching the SiC change his alt flew out the window.

His torso seemed to widen slightly as more armor came and covered up the places his armor couldn't cover up before (like parts of his torso). The handlebars of the bike alt had stuck out of his back like stubby wings, but they dissolved into nothing as they were replaced by a pair of doorwings. The wings now said "Highway Patrol" under the "Police" printed on them. His legs seemed to become thicker and sturdier then they had before. I watched at the "transformation" ended and the tactician began to look over his new armor. He seemed to have more black on him now.

He walked over to me and stopped before me. "Thank you for escorting me to the police station. Shall we return to the base?"

I nodded.

* * *

When we got back to base, I went straight to the med bay in order to join my future spark mate and to get my visor installed. Prowl went off to talk with Optimus. I passed the rec room and the quarters before I reached the med bay. I smiled when I realized that the med bay was close to the rec room for a reason.

I stopped before the med bay doors and paused for a second in order to allow the door to slide open. Once it had done so, I stepped into the room and walked over to where Ratchet was scanning Mirage. Or who I thought was Mirage…

I blinked my optics a few times, trying to figure out if the mech on the berth with my Cybercat was Mirage. He _looked_ like Mirage, but he was such a dark grey that he looked black—almost as black as my armor. He had a green visor over his optics, and there were two large disks attached to his shoulders. He didn't look as sharp as Mirage…

The mech looked up at me and smiled softly. "_Bentornato_, Mikaela," he greeted.

It _was_ Mirage! I would never mistake his voice. I walked over to him as he held out his hand, and clasped it. My spark pulsed and reached for his, telling me that I had missed him while I was gone when I didn't know that I did. It was a good thing he was coming, I realized as I quickly made sure my surprise at the strange tugging of my spark didn't show on my faceplates.

Mirage pulled me down so that I was sitting next to him. For a second, my doorwing brushed up against one of the disks attached to his shoulders, making me miss the doorwings he had. He had better resume his Ferrari alt when we got back. He wouldn't be my Mirage without it.

"Glad that you could finally join us, Twister," Ratchet said as he went to get my visor.

"Glad I'm back, Ratchet," I told him as I glanced at Mirage, my spark beating faster. I didn't understand why my spark was acting this way every time I looked at him. I figured that I would have to ask him about it later.

I sat down on the berth next to him and waited for Ratchet to come back and install the visor. I looked over at my future sparkmate as Pebbles noticed my presence and crawled onto my lap, purring. "You look prepared," I said with a smile.

He returned the smile. "You always look prepared," he countered.

I chuckled and gripped his right shoulder with my left hand. "Do I now?" I asked. I wanted to kiss him so badly, but we were in public, so I had to restrain myself.

Ratchet came back from the storage room with my visor in his servo. "Alright, Twister. How a visor works is you snap them over your optics. Once your system integrates it, you'll be able to retract it up into your helm," he told me before he attached it to my face. The pressure it exerted when Ratchet clipped it to my face was to the point of painful before he let go. I sighed as it integrated into my systems, and once done I retracted it.

He then handed us two fully loaded medical kits which we subspaced as we stood up. I thanked Ratchet before we left. As we walked, I wondered aloud, "Now where can we find a ship?"

"I thought you knew," he said, looking at me in shock.

I shrugged.

We walked out into the hall and walked towards the main hanger, while I thought hard. Alpha Trion said I would know where the ship was, so where could it be?

I remembered something just as we reached the main hanger. But I stopped. My optics were wide in disbelief at how simple it was. The Prime was right. I _did_ know where there was a ship. I grabbed Mirage's arm before he could walk into the hanger. "I know where there's a ship," I looked up at him with my startled gaze.

"Where?" he asked.

I urged him closer. "Remember the solo mission Optimus sent me on about a month ago?" He nodded. I blinked as I thought over the information I was about to give him. "Well, I was sent to southern British Colombia—on the other side of the Rocky Mountains. It was only a scouting mission, in order figure out if there were any Decepticons down there. And there wasn't." I took a shallow vent. "And I saw the ship. It was small, but it could at least house ten to twenty Autobots. And I saw its name."

"What was it?"

"The _Longbow_," I told him.

He was surprised. "The _Longbow_? But we thought it was lost forever! The crew went on a mission to plant Energon on other planets in hopes of harvesting it in the future. But they went missing."

"Well, I found it—but I forgot to report it to Optimus. Because as soon as I reached the Rocky Mountains, I was attacked by Decepticons."

"I see," the mech said with a curt nod. "Let us tell Optimus."

* * *

We told Optimus and he sent us out to southern British Columbia. We road in Stratosphere until we reached the drop zone near where I had been told to scout a month before. We dropped from only a few hundred feet up and transformed. Mirage landed flawlessly on his pedes, but I ended up landing on my pedes before I fell backwards and landed on my aft. I laughed at my clumsiness. Mirage chuckled.

I had to think that Mirage never laughed in front of anyone but me. I got to my pedes, feeling special because of that.

Once I had dusted myself off, I lead Mirage into the area I had scouted with Pebbles following us closely. My scanners were on high alert as I crept forward, my doorwings were stiff as I used them to scan for any signs of the enemy. I had no idea if any of the Decepticons had moved into this area, and I had no idea if—if they had moved in—they had found the _Longbow_. My optics scanned back and forth as I brought out my acid-pellet gun and gripped it. If there was going to be a major firefight with Mirage, Pebbles, and I against a horde of Decepticons, I'd need the power of the gun I now held in order to take down some of the bigger brutes.

**::I do not sense anything. Can you?::** Mirage asked.

I shook my helm. **::No. Unless they're cloaking their spark-signals, there are no Decepticons here. What do you think?::** I was worried. There had to be someone around here, or I wouldn't be receiving the feeling that I was being watched.

**::There has to be. They would have been curious as to what you were doing here when they caught you in the mountains.::** It sounded logical.

Suddenly, Pebbles tensed and growled. I looked down at her and my optics widened behind my new visor. I looked over at Mirage, tense. **::She senses something.::**

Mirage nodded once before jerked in surprise. "Watch out!" he suddenly bellowed before I was tackled from behind.

As soon as I hit the ground, I rolled over in attempts to see who my attacker was. For a fraction of a second, I saw it was Ravage before Pebbles came out of nowhere and barreled into him. I prayed that she would be able to take him before I jumped to my pedes. I turned and shot at a Decepticon who came running at me, yelling. He was too shocked to dodge, so the acid in the acid pellet instantly began to eat at his armor. I turned again as the sensors in my wings warned me that another Decepticon was coming behind me, and used my wrist blades to lash out at him. The teeth on the blades ripped some of the armor from his chest.

I quickly finished him off before I ran over to help Pebbles. But before I could get close, I was blind-sided by another Decepticon. I guess I hadn't mastered scanning with my doorwings yet, since I had just started learning how to use them with Bumblebee's help, because I totally hadn't seen that Decepticon coming. I hit the ground hard with a grunt before I scrambled back to my pedes. **::Mirage! We need to get the ship!::** I cried.

**::Agreed.::** I paralysed the Decepticon with an acid pellet shot to the chest as Mirage threw off his attacker after cutting its head off. I dashed forward and ripped Pebbles from the mass of Cybercat that was made of her and Ravage before I ran as fast as I could after Mirage.

More and more Decepticons kept coming, appearing between trees and from behind stacks of logs. Pebbles squirmed in my servos wanting to attack some of the Decepticons that got too close, but I held on tightly to her as I caught up with my partner. But then we slid to a stop when a large brute stepped out in front of us. I growled before I set Pebbles down on her paws. I raised my gun and pointed it directly at the brute's spark while Mirage flexed his wristblades. Pebbles' armor seemed to bristle as she hissed.

With a small whistle, I shot the brute before Mirage leapt at him. I subspaced my gun before I jumped forward and sliced at the brute's left arm. The massive gun the brute had been holding dropped to the ground, showing that we were at least causing him to hurt. I climbed up onto the brute's back while it was distracted and gripped the armor plating of its shoulders with my toes. I gripped its helm and twisted it, in attempts to rip it off. But I wasn't strong enough, so I squeezed it between my legs before I jumped, twirling as I did so. The helm came off with sparks.

The brute's body fell to the ground heavily, and I landed next to it lightly. Pebbles was gnawing on one of the brute's servos, but stopped when she realized that the brute was dead. I smiled to Mirage before we continued to run towards the ship.

More and more Decepticons came. I quickly began to realize that the Decepticons had an ambush set here just in case any Autobots would return. And we were in the middle of it.

I was actually panting as the ship came into sight. My cooling systems were working overtime in order to keep my frame from overheating. We approached the ship steadily even when we had to dodge a few Decepticons. When a Decepticon tackled my legs, I rolled and got back to my pedes. We had to get to that ship.

Mirage cried out as a bullet struck him in the side, just under one of his hover-disks. I took my gun out and shot the Decepticon that shot my future mate in mid stride. He continued to run beside me, but he began to leak Energon badly. But it didn't seem to affect him, as he continued to charge forward. He soon took my servo and held on to me as we reached the ship and entered. But I didn't get inside before my right doorwing suddenly flared with pain.

I screamed as the door shut behind me and I collapsed to the ground. Pebbles pressed herself to my chest, sensing my pain, as I tried to cut off the neuron-sensors in my wings. I took deep breaths in order to not cry from the pain as I managed to slowly shut of the sensors.

"_Vieni, alzati!_ Mikaela, you have to get up! Two 'Bots are needed to pilot this ship, not _one_ 'Bot and _one_ Cyberkitten!" Mirage implored. Man, I loved it when he sounded worried.

I pulled myself to my feet as the pain finally numbed, but stumbled around until I found my balance again. I blinked a few times, suddenly realizing that Mirage was helping me stand and that his one of his servos was firmly gripping my shoulder and his other was placed on my hip. I blushed a bit before I smirked up at him. "Hold your horses, cowboy," I told him. "The ship, remember?"

He returned the smile with a nod before he took my right servo and lead me into the ship's bridge. Pebbles was by my ankles as Mirage took me and sat me in the co-pilot's seat of the controls before he went and sat down in the pilot's seat. As soon as he was seated, he began to flip switches and press buttons. "Do you know how to fly this?"

"Marginally," was the answer I got before I heard the engines roar to life.

"That's comforting…" I sighed. "Anyway, we won't be able to fly this back to base, Mirage." I pointed out. "The Decepticons will follow us. We can't let them know!" I bit my bottom lip. "We didn't bring any Energon!"

"Be calm, _bello_," he said. "We can run on the Energon we have consumed recently for a maximum of an orn—or thirteen Earth days. We'll be at the colony before we run out."

I sighed and grabbed the co-pilot's controls as Mirage made the _Longbow_ rise up into the air. The ship shook under the barrage of fire, and Mirage grunted when it rocked to the left. "Comm. base, _Ciclone_. Tell them we can't get back to base. I'm setting coordinates for Daedalus now." I nodded in confirmation.

**::Twister to base,::** I comm'ed. A minute or so later, I got a reply.

**::This is Ratchet. What's your status?::**

**::We're under heavy fire, sir. Mirage has been shot, and I've currently got a hole in my right doorwing,::** I reported.

**::Can you return to base?::** he asked.

I grimaced. **::Afraid not, sir. The Decepticons will surely follow us. We're going straight to the colony.::**

**::Are you sure?::**

**::Positive,::** I confirmed.

**::Be careful. The colony will most likely be inhabited by neutrals, ex-Autobots, and ex-Decepticons. It's the ex-Decepticons you have to worry about, not the others. Once the ex-'Cons see you two—since you'll still be carrying full-blown Autobot signals—they will perceive you as a threat.::**

**::We'll be on our guard. Thanks, Ratchet,::** I said before I ended the comm. I nodded to Mirage, who took the ship up out of the atmosphere. But I couldn't help but grimace. Ex-Decepticons, yippee.

* * *

**Italian to English translations:**

Bentornado: Welcome back

Vieni, alzati!: Come on, get up!

Bello: Beautiful

Ciclone: Cyclone—an alternative name to Twister

* * *

**XxLosAngelesGirlxX: **Thanks! It was supposed to have an ominous tone because Mikaela/Twister was looking ahead. She's sad because, even though she would have her Cybertronian family forever, her original family, the fleshy one, would die probably before she would ever get to see Cybertron up and running again.

**SJSGirl: **Thanks! Yeah, some ex-'Con bashing there, but I still love him. That's how I perceived how my brother would react to Barricade's presence.

**Kaitlyn Thorne:** Finding the pieces of the AllSpark is the main action now. I know it's a bit of an used plot, but I haven't seen anyone use it like I have yet. Glad you're liking the pairing :D

**Madsluads:** Your wish is my command! Here you go :D


	8. Unexpected Company

**Yo, all, this 's tha Jazz-man 'ere, cumm'n here ta tell ya tha' Ah'm writin' the AN fo'e dis chap'er. Why? 'Cause Mikky 's busy gettin' ready fo'e 'er vay-cay ta B.C. 'n tha goo' ol' west o' C-A-N-A-D-A. 'Er train was delayed 'cause it needed repairs. Mikky keeps tellin' meh tha' Astrotrain was be'ind it all. Luckily, Ah think diff'rently. Now s'e 's gonna be gone f'om Tuesday ta Tuesday. Means Ah might be written again!**

**Yeah, Mikaela, or "Mikky", here. Jazz wanted some screen time since I haven't written him for a while. I'm not on vacation yet, but I will be tomorrow. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**And…this chapter hasn't been read over. I'm not in the mood, because I've been up since six this morning. Hope you like it. Mikky out.**

* * *

8 – **Unexpected Company** – 8

Once the ship was in space and not near any Decepticon-ish dangers, Mirage put the ship on autopilot. He got up from the pilot's chair and walked over to where I was sitting. I smiled up at him as I slowly got to my pedes and walked away from the co-pilot's seat. Pebbles perked up at my movement and got to her paws in order to follow me.

The hole in my wing now merely stung, but I would need it to be patched up. _But I can't work on it myself without taking my wing off. And Mirage doesn't have any medical skill what-so-ever,_ I thought. I stopped beside my future sparkmate, and asked, "So what are we going to do?"

Mirage looked down at me as I clasped my servos behind my back. "We can search the ship, see if any of the former crew is still onboard and alive…" he suggested.

I smiled widely. "A tour? Fantastic!" My doorwings flapped happily as I began to bounce on the balls of my pedes. But at the stinging coming from my damaged wing made me stop. I hated pain. It was so annoying. It kept me from doing anything, and I hate being hindered.

Mirage lead me deep into the ship, and I walked beside him quietly. We walked down halls, dodging exposed wires when they sparked, and looked in every room we came across. We peeked into the galley, the med bay, a storage, and several quarters. We stopped in one, and I walked in. I noticed a few items resting on the floor, and went over to see what they were. I bent down and picked one of them up, seeing that it was some sort of picture frame. I turned it over and looked at the picture. It onlined, and I was suddenly looking at a picture of a red mech with orange flames dancing across his frame with one arm wrapped around the shoulders of a pink femme.

"H-Hot Rod," I whispered, taking in his blue optics.

"He must have been one of the Autobots to leave on the ship. The _Longbow_ didn't leave the surface of Cybertron until near the end of the war on Cybertron, so a few of the known officers under Optimus' command left with the captain of this vessel—Longrack Major. Hot Rod must have been—or still is, a member of the crew of the _Longbow_," Mirage told me.

"Where _is_ the crew of the ship, anyway?" I asked, looking up at my partner from where I was still crouching before Hot Rod's stuff.

Mirage shrugged. "In stasis if the Decepticons haven't removed them from the ship."

I stood up and magnetized the picture to the wall above the side table. I stared at the picture of Hot Rod and the femme and smiled slightly. Absently, I wondered what happened to that femme before Mirage caught my attention as he walked to the door. I looked him over, noting how mysterious he looked. His doorwings were gone, replaced by the hover-disks, and his stance was a little bit straighter. I was sure his doorwings and stance would go back to what they were before when he resumed his Ferrari alt.

That lead me to speculate how bots would react to my alt. Sure they had tires, of some sort, but mine would definantly look alien to them. It didn't bother me, but I wouldn't like the stares.

I followed Mirage out and stopped when he stopped down the hall. He turned to me and looked at me with his blue optics. Both of us had retracted our visors as soon as we were away from the Decepticons. My visor had bothered me, because it was like I was staring through a pane of glass that was a computer screen as well. It was like my HUD was projected onto it, because it showed me my Energon levels occasionally. But I discovered that it showed me several things that used to be shown on my HUD, but were not now. Readings from the sensors in my doorwings, scans of structures in front of me, and identification of Cybertronians that stood before me were some of the things it could do.

"I would like it if we would wear our visors for the rest of the trip in order to get used to them," Mirage told me. "It would be horrible if the ex-Decepticons react to us badly and we would not be able to combat them because we were distracted by our visors."

I nodded and snapped the visor down over my optics. He mirrored me with a nod as well. "I will be in the bridge, going over things," he informed me before he turned and left me there, standing. I watched him go before I turned and looked down the hall. Maybe I could continue to explore. It's not like Mirage expected me to just stand there and wait for him.

I wandered down the hall, away from the bridge, glancing at the doors as I passed them. Many of the doors looked like they lead into more berth-rooms, but once in a while; I guessed that there were washracks hidden behind some of them. But I didn't know, I never checked until I came across a plain grey door situated across the ship from where the bridge was situated. It had no keypad, so I walked in, stopping only to wait for the door to slide open.

Inside, I saw it was some kind of storage room, but it must have been not a very important storage room because of the lack of keypad. I never thought there was such a thing as a 'non-significant' storage room.

There wasn't much in this storage room, which was slowly leading me to believe that there was such a thing as a 'non-significant' storage room on this ship and only on this ship. There were open boxes sitting in the far corner, and one thingamabob that looked like a half-finished invention. Had there been a scientist on board?

I looked through what was in the boxes as I experimented with my Autobot signature. Could I supress it a little so that no one around me could read it? I internally fiddled with it, mentally wondering if I'd need a medic to do it for me, while I examined the contents of the box I was currently looking through. There were cogs, laser scalpels, pistons, nuts, bolts, and what even looked like a spare T-cog. I blinked a few times, wondering if this was a storage room for useless or not-needed-at-the-moment parts. It seemed like it.

Getting down on one knee, I examined the invention-wannabe and scanned its angles. It looked…cool, but I didn't know what it was for. It was shaped like a candle-stick—but Cybertronian-sized. I didn't touch it, wary of all unfinished inventions because of Wheeljack. It looked cool, but it wasn't done…

The sharp click caught my attention and I froze. My doorwings drooped as I realized that the click sounded awfully like the one my gun made when I took the safety off. The sensors in my doorwings alerted me to a Cybertronian that stood right behind me, pointing a pistol of some sort at the back of my helm. An outline and then a more detail picture appeared on the screen on my visor, showing me that it was a mech, and that he was medium in build.

I didn't dare breathe. I didn't move as my spark felt like it wanted to leap free from my chest. If I could, I would have begun to sweat.

"Stand up, and turn around slowly," the mech said in a hard voice.

My doorwings twitched once in anxiety, but I did what he said. Slowly, I got to my pedes. I forced my knees not to shake as I straightened, and my optics were wide, even though they couldn't be seen. Where was Mirage? Did he know that there was another Cybertron on the ship?

"Good, now turn around," the mech ordered again.

I did, but very slowly. My spark felt like it was trying to force its way up my throat and out my mouth. When I faced the mech, I quickly and discreetly looked him up and down with my optics. He wore bright red armor that was made almost even more blinding by the orange flames that covered his chassis. To top off his bright look, a pair of yellow wing-like things stuck out of his back. His blue optics regarded me harshly, not seeing my Autobot symbols because they were hidden.

The mech sighed. "Pillaging our ship are you?" he stated after he had examined me. "Are you alone? Or did you come with someone else?"

I stared at him, squaring my jaw. I could feel my common sense slipping away as more and more fear seemed to replace it. I had a level helm, but I was alone with a Cybertronian who didn't know I was an Autobot. I looked at the Autobot symbol displayed on one of those wing-things. He was an ally, but unfortunately, he didn't know that.

And my voicebox had stopped working in my fear. My spark kept telling me to seek out Mirage. He was safety; he would keep me safe. If I was with Mirage, this mech wouldn't be able to hurt me. He would keep me safe.

He would keep me safe.

He would keep me safe.

This mech was going to hurt me. Mirage would save me.

Something in me seemed to realize my deteriorating state of mind and urged me into motion. With an unearthly shriek that I didn't know I could make, I leapt forward and crashed into the mech. He fell to the ground and I jumped over him, heading for the door. But then the mech reached up and grabbed my ankle, causing me to suddenly lose momentum and go crashing to the ground.

I looked down at him, and in a desperate measure, I kicked down and caught him in the shoulder. He cried out and let go, and seeing that, I got back to my pedes and dashed out the door.

The hole in my doorwing throbbed slightly as I rushed towards the bridge. Why had I decided to check out the room that was one of the farthest from where safety was located? I paid no mind to that thought as I continued on.

Suddenly, another mech appeared in front of me. He was red as well, but the red wasn't as bright. He was box-like, and the Autobot symbol was displayed on an orange rectangle on his chest. He looked surprised to see me rushing at him, and froze for a second. I hesitated, and that allowed him to unfreeze. I dashed past him as fast as I could, but I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist in order to stop me. Part of the training I received from Sideswipe during our "extracurricular" sparring matches kicked in, and I used my forward momentum to throw myself forward. I slipped out of his grasp and performed a summersault on the floor before I regained my footing and surged back to my pedes.

I continued on, leaving the confused mech behind. Before I rounded the corner, I heard the mech remark, "That's one o' Sideswipe's moves!"

The corridor leading to the bridge came into sight and I sprinted towards it as fast as I could. But I faltered when yet _another_ mech stepped out into the hall. He was slim, possessed red armor, but had this weird cannon-like thing strapped to his left shoulder. And perched on his nose was a pair of spectacles like the ones Wheeljack wore. I jumped to the side in order to doge him, and crashed into the wall. I grunted as it threw me off and caused me to tumble to the floor.

I got back to my pedes, and went to start running again when something light blue crashed into me at high speeds and sent me flying. I cried out in shock as I found myself flying through the air. Luckily my visor didn't crack as I slammed face-first into the floor.

When I stopped moving, I laid there. The fear ebbed from me slightly as common sense came back and slapped me with a Gibb's Head Slap. I didn't move as I heard footsteps approach, but I continued to breathe quickly. Warnings flashed across my HUD, telling me that the tear in my wing had widened some, and that I was covered in dents.

Two strong sets of servos grabbed my arms and hefted me to my pedes. When I was up, I quickly looked at the mechs that were holding me. It was the boxy one, and the red and orange one that I came across at first. I was breathing heavily, and the fight was leaving me.

But I still wanted my protector.

Taking a deep breath, I screamed. "MIRAGE!"

The effect was almost immediate. I heard rapid footsteps several seconds before the familiar form of my courter came into view. "I am here, Mikaela!" he exclaimed.

He came to a screeching halt, though, when he saw the mechs holding me hostage. He held his servos up and cried, "Friendly!" before his visor snapped up to reveal his optics. "Hot Rod, Blaster, Perceptor, Blurr; it is me, Special Operations agent Mirage!"

There was a pause before the bots holding me seemed to relax slightly. "It's him," Hot Rod confirmed.

Mirage nodded. "Now, let go of the femme," he told them.

"Who is s'e ta ya, Raj?" the one I guessed was Blaster asked.

Mirage straightened and looked at Blaster crossly. "She is my intended, you imbecile!" he snarled.

I clucked my glossa condescendingly. "Mirage, be nice," I chastised softly. "It was only a question." The mechs let go of me, and I pretended to brush the dust off of my arms. Straightening I walked over to Mirage and stood beside him.

Seeming to ignore what I had said, he turned his helm slightly towards me, and I knew he was looking at me out of the corner of his optic. "You let your fear get the best of you, didn't you?" he guessed.

I nodded. "You'd probably feel the same way if you were: One—as young as me, Two—an Autobot—no, a _soldier_, for less than a year, and Three—surrounded by mechs who were on the same team as you were, yet they didn't know you were one of them," I huffed. I crossed my arms and retracted my visor. I looked at the mechs standing before me with a critical optic. "Introduce me. Who's who?"

Mirage sighed. He gestured to the boxy mech, "This is Blaster," then to the mech with the strange cylinder strapped to his shoulder, "Perceptor," then he pointed to the blue mech that plowed into me, "Blurr," and last but not least, the orange-flamed one, who I knew was Hot Rod even before he was introduced. I nodded to each mech as they were introduced, as to not to appear rude.

"SorrythatItackledyou," Blurr said in a rush.

I stared at him for a few seconds as my processor slowly deciphered what he had said. After it had, I smiled. "It's okay. I've been hurt a lot worse during sparring matches with my fellow Autobots," I said.

"How can you understand him?" Hot Rod asked. "All I understood was 'sorry' and 'you'. Longrack Major was the only other bot we knew other than Optimus and Ratchet who understand him."

"I have a friend who speaks as almost as fast as he does. I get used to it," I explained. _And maybe you should try to focus on his words,_ I added as a thought.

"So…" Hot Rod voiced. "Why are you here? On our ship?"

"Where's Longrack Major?" I countered.

* * *

Longrack Major was dead.

Four words described the state in which the former _Longbow_ captain was in as he lay on the berth in the med bay. The orange mech was still as stone as Perceptor fretfully scanned him over and over. The scientist seemed awfully upset that his captain's spark was no more. Maybe they were a close-knit crew during their long trek to (obviously it was Earth) the planet where they were supposed to plant Energon on? I didn't feel all that sad, because I didn't know the mech, but that didn't stop a couple tears from falling from my optics.

I couldn't help but think about Longrack even though it had been a couple days since I had met the crew of the _Longbow_. We were only a few hours, or joors, from Daedalus, but my mind was no longer on my mission. The mission hovered on the edge of my attention as I thought about how they had found Longrack. He had been in his stasis-pod, but the power to it had failed, leaving him to slowly waste away, in a coma, without Energon.

That was a horrible way to die.

I blinked a few times and shook my helm in order to clear it. _Stop it. Don't think about death. You have a job to do,_ I told myself just before a message sounded over the public comm.

**::Prepare for landing and docking in Daedalus Centauri's space port.::**

The sound of Hot Rod's voice over the public comm. irked me. Sure he was the co-pilot now, but why couldn't have Mirage have announced that?

**::I have a warning for all of you Autobots who have just been debriefed on the reason why we have the **_**Longbow**_**. The AllSpark. And ex-Decepticons::** Mirage spoke over the comm.

**::We're listening.:: – Hot Rod**

There was a small pause. **::What about the AllSpark?:: – Perceptor **

Mirage sighed.** ::The AllSpark was thought to be gone, destroyed. But it has been found that it is not gone.:: – Mirage**

Someone whistled in astonishment. **::So thuh AllSpark was foun', but now it's 'n pieces?:: – Blaster**

**::Nailed it,::** I confirmed, joining the conversation. **::That's what happens when Evil Overlord's Spark meets Cube of Pure Energy.::**

**::We'll talk about this more later. We're about to land, and I am not as good at landing as I am at flying this thing.:: – Mirage**

**::Wat 'bout thuh ex-'Cons?:: – Blaster**

**::You heard what the aristocrat said. Wait till we land!:: – Hot Rod**

**::Gee, who died an' made ya Prime?:: – Blaster**

I sighed and rolled my optics. Mechs.

Rising to my pedes, I quickly walked out of my designated quarters and down the hall leading to the bridge. I stumbled as the ship lurched once before straightening out. Pebbles came running from the back of the ship and climbed onto my back. She was mewing frightfully. "It's okay, baby," I told my Cybercat before I began to run towards the bridge.

"What's going on?" I demanded as I charged into the bridge, noting that Blaster was there as well.

"One of the landing thrusters blew out," Hot Rod explained. "Without that extra power, we're going to hit the ground not that softly."

I pressed my metal lips into a thin line. "So we're going to crash," I stated. "In the middle of Daedalus Centauri's space port."

"Ya got tha' righ', li'll femme," Blaster said. "Ya bettuh 'old ontuh somethin'."

"Great," I sighed with another roll of my optics. **::Hold on, Pebbles. It's going to be a bumpy ride,::** I told my Cyberkitten over a private comm. before I went and latched onto the railing that separated the weapons systems from the space behind the pilot's seat. Pebbles' tail swished back and forth in anxiety as I gripped the railing as hard as I could.

We were now falling. Falling, falling, falling…

I squeezed my optics shut. This was going to hurt.

The ship crashed into the landing pad and I was thrown from my pedes.

* * *

**SJSGirl: **Yeah, one should not underestimate the Decepticons. They can think when they want to. And yes, Mirage's new look looks good in my head, but I'm not a good enough artist to draw it yet.

**Kurohane Ookami:** Well the resident Autobot Cybercat needs some action too! The best way to combat a kittycon is when you have a kittybot! Thanks.

**XxLosAngelesGirlxX:** That's good :D Thanks!

**Kaitlyn Thorne:** I know! Thanks for reviewing!

**VanillaSnowdrops: **Really? Well thanks! I love it when people like my characters :D

**Jazzfan0217:** A Jazz fan! Glad you're reading. I hope this chapter did not disappoint.


	9. Not Such A Warm Welcome

**Server override. . .**

**Accepted**

**Login? Yes No**

**Yes**

**Hello fellow FanFiction users, this is Ironhide, the current Autobot Weapons Specialist. Mikaela is currently busy, recovering from three days at a friend's house on the mainland. Seriously, if I had not been there, she would have spent all her savings on petty human stuff, instead of saving up for her first car. She never saw me but I think my presence—**

**Jazz: Puh-**_**leeze**_**, 'Hide, s'e knew ya were dere! S'e knew!**

**Be quiet, you no-good excuse for a toaster! I talk, you sit there and be quiet!**

**Jazz: Oooh! I'm **_**so scared**_**.**

**You are trying my patience! *cocks cannons* I will give you to the count of one—**

**Jazz: Well, woul' ya look atta time! Gotta jet! *runs away***

**Anyway, your author is now safely at home, still awake at this unhealthy hour. She tells me she's thinking about the next chapter of this story, which means **_**I**_** might get an appearance soon enough. I don't think you have looked at my cannons long enough yet!**

**Server override. . .**

**Denied**

**What's this? Someone's trying to get through? But who?**

**Server override**

**De. . .de. . .nied. . .**

**Jazz: *peeks around corner* Ah think Ah know…**

**FRAG IT, IRONHIDE, LET. ME. IN!**

**How did she find out?!**

***door blasts open* I fraggin' knew you were on my computer, Ironhide! I'M PRACTICALLY CONNECTED TO IT!**

**Jazz: RUUUUUN!**

* * *

9 – **Not Such A Warm Welcome** – 9

I groaned as the ship ceased its wild shaking and came to a stop. I had landed on my stomach and Pebbles still clung to me. She was trembling and mewing pitifully as I got to my pedes. I brushed my doorwings against her as I quickly began to calm her through my friendship bond with her. Her mewing slowly began to subside as Blaster, Mirage, and Hot Rod picked themselves up. "Are you guys okay?" I asked as they looked over the visual damage to the bridge. Other than sparks occasionally flying from a console in the back of the bridge, it seemed fine.

"I'm fine," Hot Rod stated before he marched from the bridge.

"We should have checked the ship over before we took off," Mirage mused.

I put my servos on my hips. "What _time_ did we have to do that, Mirage? There were Decepticons crawling all _over_ the place!"

Mirage looked at me and sighed before he too turned and left the bridge. Blaster, Pebbles, and I were the only ones left on the bridge. I looked at the boxy mech before gestured in the direction Mirage went. "I'm…going to follow him. No doubt he's going to exit the ship. He might need backup," I informed him before I turned and walked out of the bridge. I heard Blaster walking right behind me, and for some reason, I felt that he was about to ask me some questions.

I was not wrong.

"So…femme…'ow did ya c'me 'cross a mech like Raj?" he asked.

I felt Pebbles shift as she turned her attention to the mech behind me. I stopped and allowed him to come up beside me. Pebbles continued to stare at him. I allowed a small sigh to escape me. "Mirage and I met when I came across a piece of the AllSpark. Optimus Prime made him my guardian…and stuff…" I glanced at him. "Look, we'll be going to Earth after we are done our business. Optimus Prime will tell you everything, and I mean _everything_. But…Mirage and I love each other. He's no longer my guardian." I looked away from him for a second before I ran up the hall in order to catch Mirage, leaving Blaster behind.

As I passed the med bay, though, Perceptor stopped me. "Mirage told me of a hole in your doorwing. He wants it repaired or patched up before we leave the ship," he informed me before I followed him into the med bay.

Fifteen Earth minutes later, Perceptor was almost finished patching me up. Outside, I could hear Mirage, Hot Rod, Blaster, and Blurr talking to some bots that had obviously seen us crash. I sighed as the sensitive wires in my wing that had been exposed to the air were enclosed in the patch. "The patch with eventually mold and become one with the armor of your doorwing. After that, all you'll have to do is have someone paint it black to match the rest of your wing," he explained.

"Thanks, Perceptor," I said thankfully before shouting from outside caught my attention. I got up from the berth and walked towards the door of the med bay. Quietly, I motioned for Perceptor to follow me as I followed the shouting to the front entrance of the ship. My doorwings drooped when I heard a struggle as well.

"Unhand me, you cretins!" Mirage cursed. "We cleared with the control tower before we landed!"

"Your landing looked more like a crash, Autobot Dino," an unimpressed sounding mech said. "Therefore, we must take you in and have you sign some documents."

Mirage and I had agreed to use names other than our given names (or nicknames in my case) for safety. I couldn't use the nickname 'Twister', so I came up with the alias 'Fifth Gear'. Mirage said it was part of being a spy. So many designations were thought up and used that rarely was the mech or femme's original designation uttered. That has definantly caused shivers to race down my spinal struts before I looked at Mirage critically. I had even asked if his real designation was Mirage. And thankfully it was.

"Hey now," I heard Blaster exclaim. "Can't'we wor' dis ou'? We're only 'ere fo'e a visit!"

"No, we cannot 'wor' dis ou''," the same unknown mech said, mocking Blaster roughly. I could imagine the unknown mech adding air-quotes to the last three words he spoke. I growled.

Perceptor came up beside me and gently grasped my left arm. "Come, the communications room is just up ahead. We'll be able to see what's going on," he told me. I nodded and followed him as we ran down an adjacent hall and up a few stairs into the communications room. Perceptor crossed the room and sat down at a console. I stood behind him and looked over his shoulder (the one without the cannon) as he connected to a live feed of the main entrance.

I gasped at the sight of our mechs surrounded by a seeker and five ground pounders. The seeker seemed to be the leader of the group. And he must have been the unimpressed sounding mech I had heard before.

"Oh no…" I whispered in horror.

"This was definantly not the welcoming you were expecting, was it?" Perceptor asked knowingly.

"No, it wasn't," I replied with a slow shake of my helm.

_What are we going to do?_ I asked myself as I covered my mouth with a servo. We continued to watch as Mirage struggled in the arms of two of the ground pounders. The rest of them closed in on Blaster, Blurr, and Hot Rod, and they tried to bring out their weapons, but they were tasered. Mirage's disks seemed to droop as he watched our fellow Autobots drop to the ground, knocked into stasis lock.

I whirled around and punched the wall savagely in order to vent my anger without being heard.

I stood there panting for a few seconds before I felt Perceptor lightly rest a servo on the shoulder opposite to the fist still implanted in the wall. "We will get them out, do not worry, Mikaela," he said soothingly.

* * *

"Alright, do you have the extra patches, crack sealant, and the visor repair kit?" Perceptor asked from deep within the med bay.

"Yes, Perceptor," I told him.

"The spark stabilizer?"

"_Yes_, Perceptor!" I told him again. "The extra patches, the crack sealant, the visor repair kit, _and_ the spark stabilizer are in my subspace."

"Good! Good!"

I sighed and made sure my sniper rifle was fully loaded along with my acid pellet gun. I unsheathed both of my wrist blades before I sheathed them again. I was locked and loaded just in case the bots here on Daedalus Centauri got a little rough.

Another sigh escaped me and I leaned forward and rested my forehelm on the wall. Mirage was somewhere in the colony with three other mechs I had just met. What security measures had those mechs gone through to make sure that my courter and most of the crew of the _Longbow_ couldn't escape? How hard would it be to get to them? I closed my optics._ Ugh! Why didn't I ask to borrow Mirage's cloaking generator? Or at least his hologram generator?_ I asked myself angrily. _But of course, I didn't think that they would be _taken_…_

I straightened, and made sure my armor was in the right places._ How will I get in? How will I save them?_ All of a sudden, I felt like a small girl again—smaller than and more scared than I had been when I was encountered Hot Rod. It was just me and Perceptor going out there now. Oh, and Pebbles, but she wouldn't help us (much) against a large group of Daedalusians. There was a high chance that we'd run into the same guys that took Mirage and the others.

A small curious chirp pulled me from my thoughts. Slowly, I blinked before I turned towards the source of the chirp. My optics widened slightly behind my visor at the sight of the small figure that a little bit down the hall from me. It looked like a mechling, a sparkling only halfway to becoming a youngling. His powder-blue optics were stretched wide as he looked up at me, and he shivered slightly.

This sparkling looked like he had crawled in here out of mere curiosity, and he had come across me. Now he was just standing there, looking up at me with a look I could only tag as nervousness/fear/not knowing what to do.

Slowly, I retracted my visor and got down on one knee. "Hello, little one," I greeted the sparkling in a gentle voice. "What are you doing here?"

The sparkling chirped and cautiously took a step towards me. But then he stopped, unsure he could trust me. In the shadows behind him, I caught sight of a pair of green optics watching every movement the nervous sparkling was making. With a cross look that only lasted a second, I sent Pebbles, who was stalking the sparkling, a quick reprimand. **::Don't even think about pouncing on the sparkling, girl.::**

The sparkling glanced back at where Pebbles had been, but didn't see her there. He looked back at me and took another step closer. "How are you, sweetspark?" I asked.

He blinked a few times before he suddenly rushed to me. I suddenly had a bundle of crying sparkling in my arms, and I, not to say the least, was shocked. I focused on him, and asked, "What's the matter, sweetspark?"

"B-bad bots h-have m-m-my d-d-dani-i! O-Opi is-s-s t-trying t-ta g-get her b-back, but th-the bad b-bots w-w-will get h-h-him too-oo!" the mechling wailed.

I rubbed the wing-nubs on his back in order to comfort him. The wing-nubs, I realized, were the first stage of a seekers wing growth. But I didn't dwell on it as I tried to calm the sparkling who continued to cry. I got to my pedes and called Pebbles to my side before I walked into the med bay and called for Perceptor. "Perceptor! We have unexpected company!" I hollered.

The ruby red scientist came running into sight in a panic. "What is it, Mikaela? Are those thugs back to search the ship?" he asked.

I shook my helm. Wordlessly I showed him the sparkling. Perceptor's expression went from panicked to shocked when he beheld the royal blue bundle in my arms. The scientist walked quickly up to me and managed to smile down mechling. "Well, hello there, little fellow!" he greeted. "What ails you?"

The response he got was the same one I received. And by that time, Pebbles was staring up at the mechling with what looked to be a worried look in her optics. I looked at Perceptor seriously. "Something's going on," I stated.

"Indeed. When he refers to 'bad bots', is he referring to Decepticons?" he mused.

I looked down at the sparkling. "Sweetspark, did the bad bots have red optics?" I asked.

The mechling nodded.

I looked Perceptor in the optic. "I have a feeling that the ex-Decepticons are abusing some of their former title into scaring the neutrals and ex-Autobots. I want to go check this out," I said.

"I would like to as well. Let's go," Perceptor said before walking off to the front entrance. I followed him quickly, and stepped outside when he did. As soon as we were out, the ship closed up and locked behind us. That gave me small comfort knowing that the bots that took Mirage, Hot Rod, Blurr, and Blaster couldn't get into the ship and take our supplies.

* * *

The sparkling was obviously desperate, because he pointed constantly in the direction we were supposed to go. If we had to go left, he would point left. If we had to go right, he would point right. I walked ahead of Perceptor because the sparkling was in my arms. I once tried to hand him over to Perceptor, but the little guy put up quite a fuss. So he stayed in my arms.

We eventually came to a housing unit on the edge of the colony, and even before we were close to it, I could hear a scuffle. The kid wasn't making this up.

I walked up to the front entrance of the housing unit and, as an afterthought, but the sparkling in my sparkling hold. The sparkling wasn't going to stay with Perceptor, of course. Once I close enough, I noticed that the door was slightly ajar, as if it had been damaged and was unable to close fully anymore. I slowly reached out and pushed the door open a little more before I stepped inside. Now I could hear words. There was shouting.

It sounded like someone had been thrown up against something because I heard something crack. I looked over my shoulder back at Perceptor before I quickly walked deeper into the housing unit, unsheathing my wristblades as I did.

I stopped just outside the main living area and looked in, and gritted my denta when I saw a seeker sprawled out on the floor, surrounded by four red-opticed mechs. The seeker was thinner and smaller than Starscream was, and not as triangular. He wore no faction symbol on him from what I could tell, meaning that he was a neutral. I watched as he groaned and cracked open a blue optic. I stiffened as the seeker forced himself up onto his elbows and spat some Energon out of his mouth and to the side.

"So…Rangefire, had enough?" the head ex-'Con asked.

The seeker, Rangefire, shook his head vehemently. "Never! Never until you tell me what happened to my sparkmate!"

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that, mech," the lead ex-Decepticon said with a condescending click of his glossa.

Rangefire coughed again and spat out some more Energon. "I should have expected this…really, I should have. We were in love with the same femme, Deadbeat, and you're going to offline me so that you can have her."

The lead ex-Decepticon, Deadbeat, laughed loudly, sending chills down my spinal struts and causing Rangefire to flinch. "You think I want to keep her? To make her mine? Oh no, Rangefire, she's too intelligent to become my femme. She's offline! I killed her myself!"

Rangefire's optics widened in horror and the mechling in my hold began to sob quietly. "Danni!" he whined.

_That's it,_ I growled mentally. _The sparkling has already lost his mother. I'm not going let the Decepticreep take his father as well._ And with that, I glanced back at Perceptor, who stood only a little ways away, a nodded sharply.

With a battle cry, I ran forward and flying tackled Deadbeat. We both fell to the ground and the sparkling squeaked in surprise. I got to my pedes at the same time Deadbeat did, and caught him across the faceplates before he could react. My strength was inferior, so my punch didn't have much of an affect. And I quickly realized this as he grabbed my shoulder and flung me across the room. But instead of crashing to the floor, coding appeared in my vision and caused, what could only be called "carrier instincts", to take over and I flipped. I landed on my pedes, flailing, and I slid backwards a few feet.

"Whoa!" I breathed with widened optics.

My optics narrowed when Deadbeat came at me again. Perceptor was preoccupied with the other mech, shooting at them with the cannon strapped to his shoulder. That left me to take this big guy by my small self. But that wasn't going to stop me. I glanced over at Rangefire, who was slowly getting to his pedes, before I performed a roundhouse kick on Deadbeat's abdomen, sending him flying back a little ways. Quickly, I opened up my chestplates and then my sparkling hold, allowing him to fall out into my servos. Hastily, I closed everything back up so that my spark and nothing else important was exposed.

I set the sparkling on his little pedes and pointed at Rangefire. "Go to your Opi, little one. Keep him safe," I told him before I pushed him forward gently. I watched him quickly toddle away before I suddenly was forced to the ground with a greater weight on top of me. I groaned as Deadbeat trailed his digits along my doorwings, but it wasn't in pleasure. It was in discomfort. "S-stop, please!" I said, almost pleading. I didn't like anyone, but Ratchet, Wheeljack, Mirage, or my family, to touch my doorwings.

"Alright, I'll stop…" he flipped me over and pinned me down with his knee. "But for an Autobot officer, I won't stop the way you hope I'll stop."

My optics felt like they wanted to pop out of my helm as my spark raced. I watched as Deadbeat held his hand up for me to see and transformed it into a long, nasty-looking sword. I tensed as he brought the knife down.

* * *

**Dun dun duuuuuun! I am so mean. I make you wait for an update, and then I leave it on a cliffhanger. Sorry, guys, but hopefully, you won't have to wait too long for the next update!**

* * *

**SJSGirl:** Well, she didn't look like and Autobot. She looked like a neutral more than anything. I've crashed to the ground before, because the rope that was being used for the game "Jump Rope" (not the normal jumprope—a guy stands in the middle of the room with a work-grade rope as thick as your ankle and spins it around. You have to jump over it) wrapped around my ankles and pulled me off my feet. My shoulder stung.

**Kaitlyn Thorne:** I'd be too scared to say anything, but that's just me…

**XxLosAngelesGirlxX:** Glad you did. Don't worry, Ironhide will be showing up again once they return to Earth. Something's bound to happen that will make her realize that she needs to touch up her fighting skills with the Weapons Specialist.

**MusicalPrime:** Mirage is one cool bot *high five* "Are you seriously trying to offline them all?!" –this statement has left me confused…can you clarify? Please? I _love_ your avatar, BTW. Takes "Robots in Disguise" to the next level, eh?

**Budder:** Jazz, being the sneaky-bot he is, connected himself to the internet. This time, Ironhide took my computer _from_ me!

**ddgahx seizure:** Yeah, yeah *grins smugly* Originally, the sentence said: "Gee, who died an' made ya **king**?" before I realized that: a) The crew of the _Longbow_ haven't been to Earth yet. And b) They don't know what a 'king' is… I'm trying to be as correct as possible.

**KayleeChiara:** Glad you like! Ah! You're right about the "bella" "bello" thing. Whoopsie! Online translators come in handy.


	10. Hero

**Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! How are you? Me, despite not having a real-life beau, I am having a good time (mentally, though, I'm hanging out with the bots, Mirage specifically), though I'm still mulling over what happened last night.**

**My uncle—my father's brother-in-law—phones after dinner and tells my dad that his mother, my Nana, was found unconscious in the Sydney airport down in Australia. She hadn't been breathing for 15 minutes. The people in the hospital believed that she experienced a stroke while walking to the plane that would take her to New Zealand. On the way to the hospital, in an ambulance, she experienced an aneurism and then a Heart Attack. Now she's in a coma, and brain dead, so they say.**

**We were close, but not that close. She would visit once in a while. But we're afraid she's gone, so we'll never see her again :'( I have a feeling that we may be moving to New Zealand sometime in the future… she was taking care of her mother, Nana Marie, who's mentally ill, and thinks she's in certain TV shows sometimes.**

**:'( :'( :'(**

**It's hard.**

**But I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I hope it makes you hold your breath. I love you my readers!**

* * *

10 – **Hero** – 10

With a gasp, I knocked his knee off of me, and managed to roll out of the way. Deadbeat's sword pierced the floor where I had been laying only seconds before. Quickly, I scrambled to my pedes so that I would be able to counter any attacks he could send my way, while mentally shaking because I had been so close to being seriously injured. It could have been me not the floor that now had a sword being pulled out of it.

I took a few steps back, silently reprimanding myself. I shouldn't have run headlong into this. I should have been smart and gotten Mirage and the others first. _But wait, then the sparkling's father would be dead now,_ I realized.

Deadbeat swiped at me and I dodged. Once he recovered, he swung his sword at me. I managed to roll out of the way with a squeak of fright. How was I going to get out of this? I screwed my optics closed before whirling around and slashing at the ex-Decepticon with a wristblade. I slashed at him again with the other wristblade, but this time I was more firm, I put more power into slash. I had to muster all of the training I had received, because this was different. It was two against four—Perceptor and I made up the two, and four ex-Decepticons made up the four.

"_Always remember, when outnumbered, you must keep an optic on every Decepticon around you…"_ That piece of advice, which Ironhide had so graciously given me, echoed in my audios before I narrowed my optics and struck out at Deadbeat's abdomen again. The Decepticon was sent reeling back. My small size was a disadvantage in this instance and I needed to be quick and light on my feet in order to take this guy down.

"_You are a small femme," _Sideswipe had told me, _"bigger 'Cons will look down on you and will view you as weak because of your size. You have to trick them into thinking they have you, and then you can get them."_ I went over that piece of advice Sideswipe had given me, and figured that if I wanted to take Deadbeat down, I couldn't let him pin me down again. If I let him, I could die.

Deadbeat came at me, with a look on his face that told me he was ready to squish me like a bug, even though I was a femme. I bent backwards at the waist as he swung his sword as if to cleave me in two. I grunted in surprise as it passed only inches from my chest. As soon as the sword was away from my chest, I flipped backwards and away from him. I landed lightly on my pedes and brought out my acid pellet gun and aimed at Deadbeat's chestplates. But out of nowhere, one of his goons grabbed my arm and jerked it so that my shot went wide and missed the ex-Decepticon totally.

I growled and went to strike out at the 'Con that made me miss, but a pede connected to my abdomen and sent me flying across the room. I cried out as I landed on my doorwings, and pain shot through me from my wingstruts. I didn't know what to do. There were too many of them!

* * *

Mirage sat. There wasn't much else he could do in the tiny containment cell the local enforcers had placed him in. It was barely bigger than him, and that was saying something. In the cell across from his, a hulking mech with yellow optics and helicopter blades hanging from his back sat hunched over in a cell just as big as the one he was in. And the helicopter-ish transformer that the spy was looking at was a lot bigger than he was.

The former noble sighed and shifted on the hard bench that took up most of the floor-space. With the movement, the disks mounted to his shoulders scraped against the bars that made up both the left and right walls of the tiny cell. He grunted at the strange sensation that raced over the disks at the scraping. A chuckle came from his left. In the cell right next to his on the left was occupied by Blaster. "C'n ya feel anything wit those disks?" he asked.

"Only minimally. They're not as strong as doorwings," Mirage replied as he glanced around his cell. "But I can still pick up spark signatures like I could with my doorwings. There's guard coming down the hall outside."

"So you're getting all this information, but how is that going to help us?" Hot Rod, who was situated to the right of Mirage, asked. "We've still got a femme and a scientist back on the ship! No doubt the local enforcers have already searched the old rust bucket! I'm expecting the guards to haul their afts in here!"

Mirage merely glared at him before the door opened and the guard walked in. They watched as he slowly walked down between the two rows of cells before he turned and walked back to the door, having checked to make sure that everyone was still in their cells. Then he left.

The noble sat back and rested his back against the wall behind him. He stared for a few moments, from behind his visor, at the prisoner in the cell across from his until a flashing on the top right-hand corner of his HUD caught his attention. He looked at the source of the flashing and realized it was the PEB. The flashing light was green, showing that Mikaela was in a battle, but he had no idea how he was supposed to get to her and save her. The bars of the cell were strong enough to keep the brute across from him contained.

But then an idea popped into his helm—like one of those "plot-bunnies" Mikaela had told him about, and he smiled almost creepily.

"Uh oh…Raj's smilin'. 'E must 'ave a plan…" Blaster said.

A chuckle left Mirage's voicebox as he got down on his knees and gripped the bars of the door. With a few audible clicks, a holoform appeared on the other side of the bars. This seemed to startle all the bots in the surrounding cells as holoform-Mirage shook himself and ran his fingers through his thick black hair.

"What the pit did you do?" Hot Rod demanded. He looked at Mirage's still bipedal form expectantly.

"It is called a holoform, Hot Rod. A solid light projection." The reply didn't come from the mech in the cell, but from the strange creature that had suddenly appeared in the hall. Hot Rod's optics grew huge when he looked at it and saw that it was looking back up at him. "It is me. I've just transferred my conscience into this body in order to 'stretch my legs', if you will." He turned and glanced round. He needed to find a way to open the cells he and the crew of the _Longbow_ were trapped in—while keeping the other bots locked up.

But his now-short height would make it rather hard to reach any of the controls he might come across. He looked to the left of each cell, and saw a control pad there—one for every cell. But…they were mounted ten feet above his holographic head.

Mirage rubbed his chin in thought before his electric-blue eyes landed on a large chair that the guard had sat in once while they had been trapped. It looked light, in Cybertronian standards, and he was sure he would be able to move it, but it would be slowly. A holoform's strength was twice that of a human's, but that would not help him move the chair. Holoforms were handy, but you had to give up your size and strength in order to use it.

Quickly, he ran over to the chair, knowing that there wasn't much time until the guard returned. He reached the chair and braced his back against one of the chair-legs before he began to push. Grunts came out of him unbidden as the chair slowly began to slide across the floor.

"'Ere, let Rewind 'elp ya," Blaster said. There was a click, a swish, and then the sound of two pedes landing lightly on the floor. Rewind joined him and together they managed to get the chair across to the control panel next to Mirage's cell. Mirage was boosted onto the chair with Rewind's help before the Cassette jumped up behind him. Hastily, he climbed the back of the chair and stood on the top of it. But even then he had to stretch in order to reach the buttons.

His vision zoomed in on two dark grey buttons amongst the other light grey buttons, and he quickly read the white symbols on the buttons. They were of an old dialect—one that was only a little different than the Cybertronian that the Autobots used now. One basically said 'release' and the other said 'close', but it took the noble a while to remember the meaning. It had been a while since he had to use the language. Luckily, the 'release' button was closer than the 'close' button, so all he had to do was jump up and smash his fist into the right button.

The door enclosing his cell opened with a hiss, and he quickly deactivated his holoform and stood up in his robot-form.

Rewind returned to Blaster as Mirage stepped out of the cell before the door could close automatically. He quickly pressed the 'release' button on Blaster's and Hot Rod's cell before he stopped and looked in Blurr's cell. Blurr was sitting on his bench with a metal plate magnetized over his mouth, keeping him from speaking, and he was still wearing stasis cuffs to keep him from taking the metal plate off. The noble couldn't help but chuckle at the blue 'Bot's misfortune before he opened his cell as well.

After Blurr's gag and cuffs came off, he inhaled and forced the air out in a relieved sigh.

"Let's go," Mirage said. "The guard will be back, and it won't be long until they notice that we're out of the cells." Of course, just as he finished saying that, an alarm went all. "Come on!" And with that, they charged out of holding room and into the station.

* * *

I whimpered as Deadbeat kicked me into a corner. My abdomen ached, and my spark beat erratically. I couldn't take a deep breath, and, even though Cybertronians didn't need to breathe, it was still causing me to panic slightly. The joints holding my doorwings to my back sparked painfully, and couldn't help but wince every time they did. My doorwings were crumpled, and my armor was dented all over. It hurt all over, and I could barely move.

How pitiful. I must look like a mess.

"Had enough, little femme?" Deadbeat's companion, the one who had grabbed my arm and caused me to miss, said.

"She's a tough little one, I don't think she's had enough, Razorwheel," Deadbeat smirked before pointing a gun at my helm. I shook a little as I tried to back away. But my joints squealed in protest, so I just laid there, lying on my left side and facing them in order to protect my wings.

I trembled, knowing that a blast to the head would surely offline me. "P-please…d-don't…" I stuttered. "F-femme's are so r-rare…"

"Give it to someone who cares, Autobot!" Razorwheel sneered. "Like Primus!" he kicked at my abdomen again and I cringed as it made contact.

When I blinked my optics, I looked over at Perceptor. The battle was over, and two of the only other functioning ex-Decepticons were restraining him. His cannon had been forcefully removed and thrown across the room. The shoulder it had been mounted to was sparking, wires were exposed. I whimpered again. It was my fault that the both of us were injured and captured. But if I hadn't come here, the sparkling's father would have died. I glanced around the room. It seemed that they had escaped. Good.

"Any last words?" Deadbeat asked.

I only stared up at him through my green visor. But then, for some reason, I grinned. "Da name is _Fifth Gear_, homie," I said, mimicking Jazz's accent.

* * *

Mirage transformed as soon as he was out of the enforcer station. The other's followed as plasma-fire filled the air. As soon as he made sure they weren't being followed, he began to follow the PEB, which had stopped flashing green and started flashing red. **::Slag.::**

**::What's the matter, Mirage? We got away from the enforcers.:: – Hot Rod**

**::It's not that, it's Mikaela. She's been captured by Decepticons—or in this case—ex-Decepticons.:: – Mirage**

**::Wat did s'e do ta get inta such a predic'ment?:: – Blaster**

**::Maybesomeoneraidedtheshipand capturedthem!:: – Blurr**

**::Uh…all I got out of that was 'maybe' and 'them'. Can you say that slower?:: – Hot Rod**

**::Ah jus' ran tha' through mah decoduh. "Maybe s'me'ne raided the ship and captured them." Tha's wat Blurr said.:: – Blaster**

**::Oh.:: – Hot Rod**

**::…Why did you never do that before?!:: – Hot Rod**

**::Ah jus' figured it out.:: – Blaster**

Mirage decided to cut in and steer the conversation back on track as he drove around a corner. **::That is a possibility, Blurr. But what if she got off the ship on her own?::**

**::Would she go alone? She would have seen how we were taken. Wouldn't she be a **_**little bit**_** cautious?:: – Hot Rod**

**::You don't know her. If there was a reason to leave the ship, she would leave it. But she's not stupid. She would have taken Perceptor with her.:: – Mirage**

They came to a stop on the edge of the colony. The red beacon of the PEB was pulsing very slowly now, allowing Mirage to know that he was very close to his partner. He scanned surrounding housing-units, being careful to take in every detail on all of the buildings before his scans alerted him of something going on in the housing unit to the left. He jogged over to it and looked in through one of the windows, trying to be discreet as he did. He peeked in, and his spark stalled at what he saw.

There were four ex-Decepticons, and two of them were holding Perceptor back. Mikaela was backed into a corner and looked to be heavily damaged. She was trembling slightly, and he could tell by her body language that she was terrified.

The ex-Decepticons were saying something, so he turned up his audio-sensitivity.

The ex-Decepticon that seemed to be in charge suddenly pointed a gun at his femme.

"P-please…d-don't… F-femme's are so r-rare…" Mikaela stuttered.

"Give it to someone who cares, Autobot! Like Primus!" the ex-Decepticon next to the leader sneered. He then kicked Mikaela, adding another bruise.

There was a pause. "Any last words?" the leader asked.

And at that, she looked up at the leader and smirked. "Da name is _Fifth Gear_, homie."

As soon as she had said it, the gun went off. Mirage's jaw dropped open as Mikaela rolled out of the way of the blast in the nick of time. In a flash…or a _slow_ flash, she was up on her pedes with her wristblades out. She took a step forward, but stumbled and fell back down to the floor.

Mirage turned and silently motioned at the housing unit, signalling to the others that he was going inside. Mikaela needed him, and he was going to go in there and save her, even when his cloaking generator was offline, his wristblades were locked in their sheaths, and his guns were locked in their holsters. So when he made sure that the others were following him, he went to the front door and opened it. He then rushed in and as soon as he got into the living quarters, he decked one of the ex-Decepticons holding Perceptor with a back-hand slap to the back of the helm.

Blaster quickly opened his chest-compartment and allowed his four Cassettes, Eject, Rewind, Stripes, and Ramhorn, to leap out. Blurr streaked over to the other ex-Decepticon holding Perceptor and sent him spinning to the ground.

Pebbles had come out of hiding and stood before Mikaela in order to protect her from the two ex-Decepticons, but the two were not intimidated. Mirage flying tackled them and sent them crashing to the ground as Perceptor rushed over and helped the small femme to her pedes. She limped heavily as Pebbles followed closely by her heels. Blaster's Cassettes helped Mirage pin the two ex-Decepticons down.

He kicked at Deadbeat viciously, furious at the state Mikaela was in. "You did this to her, I know it!" he roared, kneeing Deadbeat in the abdomen hard enough to force unprocessed Energon out of the ex-Decepticon's mouth. His accent was thick with the fury that raced through him and made his Energon boil.

Deadbeat collapsed, and Mirage pinned him to the floor. He gripped the sides of the ex-Decepticon's face and retracted his visor so he could glare at him without it being hidden. "How did you know she was an Autobot, 'Con?" he demanded. "How!"

"H-her signal…it w-was blaringly obvious…" was the weak reply. "Y-yours is doing the same…" and with that, Deadbeat dropped into stasis-lock.

With the other three dispatched and also in stasis lock, the Autobots quickly left the building.

* * *

Somewhere along the way from the housing unit to the ship, I dropped unconscious, my injuries too severe. I was cradled in the soft darkness, oblivious to everything around me until I came to in a Cybertronian version of a hospital room. I was disgruntled, and the light from the ceiling made me very uncomfortable. W-where was I? W-what happened to the others? I had been about to die, but they had suddenly appeared, saving the day. I groaned and shifted a little, turning my head to look off blankly to the right. But when I did, I screamed.

And my scream caused the nurse femme that was currently in the room to jump three feet into the air out of surprise. "W-what is it?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

I nodded, looking off at a table where my doorwings were sitting. My optics were impossibly huge with surprise and fear. "They…they took my doorwings off…" I whimpered.

The nurse looked at me compassionately. "The medic that patched you up had to take the doorwings off so he could work on them. He'll put them back on once he's done filling out paperwork," she told me before she walked out of the room.

But as soon as she was gone, Mirage burst into the room and rushed over to my berthside. He grasped my left servo and got down on his knees so that he could be more on my level. "How are you feeling?" he asked quietly.

I smiled softly. "I'm fine, Mirage…how are you?"

"That is not important," he whispered. My spark raced a little at the quiet tone in his voice. "_You're _more important than me at the moment." He looked me in the optic. "I love you."

A small, happy, chuckle left my voice box. "I love you too."

He looked down for a few seconds, and his cheeks turned a light blue in a blush. "I know I shouldn't say this until I've gotten Optimus', and your mother and father's approval, but I don't think I can hold it in anymore. During this last venture, where I was locked up and you left the ship, I realized the lack of connection between the two of us made my spark long for yours all the more." He looked into my optics again and asked, "Mikaela Cody Prime, will you sparkbond with me?"

My breathing hitched and my optics widened. Tears of joy gathered in my optics as I rolled over slightly and wrapped my arms around his neck. I leaned in and kissed him on the lips before whispering, "Yes."

* * *

**Drama, drama, drama. I'm not good at it, but oh well. I hoped you liked it. Man, I wanted romancey for Valentine's Day! LOVE IS IN THE AIR, PEOPLE! Though, it is kind of a sad Valentine's for me…**

* * *

**MusicalPrime:** Oh, I get it now XD Yeah, Mirage is not the pilot ya wanna ride with. The sparkling is with his daddy now, so he's safe! And you saw how Mirage acted. Mirage brutally attacked that 'Con, Deadbeat.

**XxLosAngelesGirlxX:** Well, next chapter, I'm planning on checking up on the guys on Earth. Ironhide will definantly be in the chapter because of what I have planned for it.

**Kaitlyn Thorne:** Personally, being separated from anyone I can remotely trust makes me feel vulnerable, even though I don't show it. Cute sparklings are famous! The AllSpark might be gone, and there might be few femmes, but there are still sparklings!

**SJSGirl:** Yeah. At least the sparkling has his Opi.

**Jazz Is My Lil Ninja:** It haz been updatez! Glad you love it.

**KayleeChiara:** The door to the ship was open, because Perceptor and Mikaela didn't close the ship. And the enforcers didn't bother to either. Yeah, it was an evil cliffie.


	11. Infiltrated

**What is **_**wrong**_** with me? I couldn't find much to cover in this chapter, but I promise the next one will be longer. I'm **_**so**_** busy, it's not funny. And I hate it! I can't wait for summer, **_**I can't wait**_**!**

**Update on my Nana—she died on Valentine's Day. My mom and dad believe she was gone before her body hit floor. I know I said that she was alive for a time afterwards, but that didn't mean she was still…there. Anyway, she's gone, and it still doesn't feel real to me, even after all this time. And it didn't help that I was listening to "Just a Dream" by Carrie Underwood this morning. Even though it was talkin' about the girl's husband/boyfriend, it made me think. I'll post the lyrics at the end of the chapter and let you mull about it. This is the first time someone I personally knew died. I can still remember how she helped me catch the pony I bought a couple years ago!**

**Jazz: *blows nose with an oversized hankie* Ah'm listenin' ta tha' song right now! It's so saaad! Waaaaah!**

**Ironhide: Cut the dramatics, runt. *Gibbs head slaps him***

**I'm going to go and try to hold in the tears… I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

11 – **Infiltrated** – 11

Life was calm for those who were on Earth. There really hadn't been any Decepticon attacks lately and they had to wonder why. They didn't dwell on it, though; because they were too busy trying to live their life without being paranoid, unlike a certain bot…

Lennox turned his head from the live feed of the Daytona 500 to watch as Red Alert came running into the rec room, screaming about strange humans approaching the base. The major rolled his eyes at the red mech's dramatics before returning his attention to the large plasma-screen TV. "Calm your engines, Red," he called without turning again. "That's probably just Twister's family. I just offered her father a job as a mechanic here, so Jazz probably lead him here along with his wife and son."

The Security Director stopped and looked at the human. He slowly calmed down and breathed, "Oh," before he turned and left.

Sideswipe, who was sitting on the floor next to the humans' couch, chuckled. "Good one, Lennox," he said. "Red should really go see Ratchet about that glitch…"

Ironhide snorted from where he sat on the other side of the humans' couch. "Are you kidding? How do you know if Ratchet can fix glitches?"

The silver frontliner grinned wickedly at the black Weapons Specialist. "You know my reputation—I'm in the med bay the most! So of course I know what Ratchet can or cannot do," Sideswipe said hotly.

Ironhide reached over and punted Sideswipe on the back of the helm sending him careening forward. "Even though you are one of the bots that visit the med bay the most, it does not mean that you know _everything_ about the Hatchet." And with that, the massive black mech got to his pedes and walked from the rec room. He headed for the weapons vault and entered as the silver Solstice-former lead Kris, Susan, and Drew Cody towards the rec room.

"An' tha' was Ironhide we jus' passed," Jazz said as the three humans walked a little faster than normal in order keep up with the saboteur. They entered the rec room, and Jazz lead them over to the humans' couch. The little ten year old ran forward stopped at Sideswipe's wheeled pedes. He looked up with wide eyes at the tall silver frontliner.

"Mr., Mrs., an' mini Cody, dis is 'e rec 'oom." Jazz gestured to Sideswipe, "Tha' is Sides'," he gestured down to Lennox, "an' tha' is Lennox." Sideswipe waved before getting up and skating away, having finally lost interest in the race on the screen.

"Gotta go find Sunstreaker!" he called over his shoulder before he disappeared out through the door.

"Tha' _was_ Sides'," Jazz said before he sat down where Sideswipe had been sitting. He grinned down at the humans.

* * *

He narrowed his red optics before he dropped down into the ventilation shaft. He grunted as he had to sandwich himself into a ball in order to be able to move face forward. These unmonitored spaces were so _small_! What did Megatron expect? That he could fit into a space the size of his servo? He was six feet tall and only a few inches smaller in the torso than a full-grown human male. And the ventilation shaft was only built a few inches wider than his chest.

He began to pull himself forward, taking great care to keep his armor from rubbing against the bottom of the shaft. His black and yellow frame quickly crawled down the shaft, and he only stopped when he came to a vent in the floor. He stopped and looked down through it, and was mildly surprised when he saw it was a berthroom. Remembering how Autobots usually didn't have sensors, alarms, or cameras in their quarters because of privacy, so without a second thought, he dropped down into the room. His pedes made a faint clank when he landed.

He scanned the room, taking in everything. There was a desk, a berth, a side table lamp, several holoframes which were magnetised to the wall above the berth, and a datapad that sat on the side table. Quickly he scrambled up onto the bed and then onto the side table where he onlined the datapad. If anywhere, he was going to get information from this.

But he was surprised at the information that was held on pad. It was a Journalpad.

_September 28__th__ 2012_

_Well, this is interesting. I've been a Cybertronian femme for a month or so. Funny how neither Bumblebee, Sideswipe, or Mirage recognised me when I ran into them. Ah, strange memories. I remember how I glitched at the thought of being locked in the brig because they thought I was a neutral femme. Yellow optics, gives the expression I guess. Thank goodness Ratchet's changed them to the colour blue. I don't stick out like a sore thumb anymore. And thank goodness Optimus had the processor to hook up to my dataport and sift through my memories. Because if he didn't nobody would have believed me when I told them I was the human girl they knew as Mikaela Ashley Cody._

…

_October 1__st__ 2012_

_Hey, 25 days till I turn 17. Even though I won't look it, I will be seventeen. I wonder if I'll go back to school and get a diploma? Optimus probably won't let me. And I think I know the reason why. My presence would endanger the other students' lives, even though they wouldn't be able to pick up on my Autobot signature—only my human one. And I wouldn't doubt if some of the Decepticons have memorised my human signature._

_This somehow reminds me of the dreams I had about a small Minibot femme named Twisterstrike. Boy, for a bit, I thought I was actually her. But then the Primes told me how I was just shown them in order to show that I had the heart/spark of an Autobot. Some of the dreams were pretty freaky, and sad, but some were nice. But they stopped once I became an Autobot femme._

His audios picked up the sound of heavy pedesteps that stopped right outside the door of the berthroom. A small grin tugged at the corner of his mouth before he collapsed down into his alt, a large boom box. Megatron wanted him to scout out for weaknesses in the Autobot base. He had found it, and he wanted answers for one little thing.

* * *

When I was discharged from the Cybertronian version of a hospital, with my doorwings reattached (I never wanted to go through that again. As they hooked them up so that I could use them, feedback would constantly attack my processor. Ow), Mirage carried me out bridal style. We had just bonded, having had to wait until both the medic and the nurse were out of the room before we could, and my new sparkmate was keeping my spark close to his.

He had told me that it would take a while for the bond to solidify, and during this time there was a constant risk of another mech taking me and forcing another bonding on me, effectively ruining my bond with Mirage forever. At that news, I had become slightly afraid, but Mirage quickly calmed me by telling me that he and the other Autobots would never allow something like that to happen to me.

My spark beat perfectly in time with his now that we were sparkmates, and I felt utterly relaxed in his arms. We went to a hotel-like place where Mirage had already booked us a room, and we entered. I could hear the other mechs in the room next to ours though. Mirage explained to me that they had to share a room because he didn't have enough credits left over from when he left Cybertron to pay for a room for each of the crewmembers of the _Longbow_.

Mirage carefully laid me down on the large berth on the far side of the room, on the side up against the wall, before he left to get us some Energon. I sat up and smiled. _I gotta love that mech,_ I thought. _I may have efficient levels of Energon in my systems, but he gets more for me anyway. But he must need it too, doesn't he? He hasn't refueled yet…right?_

"_Not yet, my _compagno di scintilla_,"_ Mirage suddenly said across our new bond.

I let out a squeak of surprise and clutched at my helm. _"You're in my head! Did you hear everything I thought?"_

"_No. I just felt and heard your worry for my Energon levels."_

"_Ah."_

I blinked. This was going to take some getting used to. There was a small mew before Pebbles appeared from underneath the berth. She jumped up onto the berth and curled up on my lap. I smiled and rubbed her head with a servo as I waited for Mirage to return. But then I froze in realization. What were my parents going to say about this? What was _Optimus_ going to say about this?

My spark wobbled weirdly as I got a strange feeling that reminded me somewhat of a train derailing. _Riiiiiight_…

"_Are you alright, Mikaela? My spark suddenly felt weird, and I assumed it was you?"_ Mirage asked.

I sighed. _"Yeah, it was me,"_ I said before I suddenly felt a knowing prod from Optimus' end of our father-daughter bond. The prod didn't feel angry… carefully, and meekly, I sent a small prod back. I smiled slightly when another prod came back and it felt calm.

Okay…maybe Optimus was okay with it…but what about my parents? Mirage had brought that up before we bonded, but I had kinda forgotten about it during the events that happened afterward. Right, at least they were not connected to my spark, which meant they did not know that I had bonded.

**::You were thinking out loud on the comm., Mikaela,::** Hot Rod growled sleepily.

**::S-sorry!::** I apologised.

**::So you haven't told your creators yet that you were going to bond? Your sire is going to be one angry mech.::**

I shuttered. **::I know.::**

* * *

Ironhide was cleaning his cannons when a slight rattling in the ventilation shaft above his helm caught his attention. He looked up at the shaft in time to see the shaft shift from side to side as if something was in and was moving. The black Weapons Specialist followed the rattling out of the weapons vault and out into the hall. The rattling continued down the shaft and Ironhide followed it down the hall. Halfway down the hall, it branched off into the very first quarter in the barracks.

He entered the code for the door (being one of the most trusted bots on base had its perks) and entered. He stopped and blinked his optics in shock at the small figure that stood on the side table inside. But he quickly snapped out of his shock when he noticed its red eyes. "DECEPTICON!" he bellowed, prepping his cannons.

The Minicon growled and leapt at him, successfully landed on the Autobot's faceplates. He gripped the edges and began to claw at Ironhide's face.

Ironhide stumbled backwards out of the room as he tried to get the little nuisance off of his faceplates. "Decept—Decepmigon!" he managed to say around the Minicon's pedes, which were trying to clamp mouth closed. He finally lost his balance and fell down onto his back.

Major Lennox, who had been looking for his guardian, jumped in surprise when he came across the mech on the floor while trying to get the Minicon off of his face. "Ironhide! What's going on?" the human asked as he ran up to him.

Ironhide managed to pull the Decepticon from his face for a brief moment. "Decepticon!"

* * *

**SJSGirl:** Yeah, I was aiming for sweet. I'm glad you thought so. I wanted her to mimic Jazz's accent because I thought that would be so cool. Desired effect, I guess :) Thanks. I'm still trying to recover from it as I said at the beginning of the chapter. It hurts, and I'm trying to hold it in. I hate it when I cry for some reason. It's been that way since I was nine.

**Madsluads:** *laughs* Ooooh yeah. That's Mirage for you.

**XxLosAngelesGirlxX:** Yep! Did you like his role in this chapter?

**Kaitlyn Thorne:** It's okay, I guess. I used to dread my Nana coming over since my family had our differences with her. But I shouldn't have. I should have been excited for her. And now I'll never see her again. At least she can see my dad's older sister, who died when she was two. Aw man, I'm crying now :'(

**MusicalPrime:** Yeah, it's a tangle of confusion, and she knows it.

**KayleeChiara:** Thanks for the hug :')

**Jazzfan0217:** Yeah, it's the one thing that readers seem to wait for when reading a story like this. Thanks.

**VioletDawn00:** Thanks!

* * *

**Here are the lyrics for "Just a Dream":**

It was two weeks after the day she turned 18  
all dressed in white, going to the church that night  
She had his box of letters in the passenger seat,  
six pence in her shoe  
something borrowed something *blue*  
and when the church doors opened up wide she put her veil down trying to hide the tears oh  
she just couldn't believe it  
she heard the trumpets from the military band and the flowers fell out of her hands

Chorus

Baby, why'd you leave me, why'd you have to go  
I was counting on forever, now I'll never know  
I can't even breathe  
It's like I'm, looking from a distance, standing in the background  
Everybody's saying, he's not coming home now,  
This can't be happening to me  
This is just a dream

Verse 2

The preacher man said 'let us bow our heads and pray  
Lord please lift his soul and heal this hurt'  
then the congregation all stood up and sang the saddest song that she ever heard  
then they handed her a folded up flag and  
she held on to all she had left of him oh and what could've been  
and then guns rang one last shot and it felt like a bullet in her heart

[Chorus]

Oh this is just a dream  
just a dream, oh!

((Copied and pasted from the Cowboy Lyrics website))


End file.
